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RURAL CENTRALIZED 

GRADED AND MODEL 

SCHOOLS 




1918 



PREPARED BY 

E. A. DUKE, Rural School Supervisor 

ISSUED BY 

R. H. WILSON, State Superintendent 

OKLAHOMA 

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WARDEN COMPANY, OKLAHOMA CITY 



Rural Centralized, Graded and 
Model Schools 



Prepared By 

E. A. DUKE 

Rural School Supervisor 
1918 



Issued By 

R. H. WILSON 

State Superintendent, Oklahoma 



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Typical Centralized Rural Scliools in Oblaboma 






CONTENTS 



Page 

Chapter I. The Growth of ConsoHdation Elsewhere . 7 

Chapter 11. ConsoHdation in Oklahoma 30 

Chapter III. Union Graded Schools 54. 

Chapter IV. Transportation of Pupils 64 

Chapter V. State Aid for Consolidated and Union Graded 

Schools 77 

Chapter VI. The Transfer Law 80 

Chapter VII. Model Rural Schools 84 



R. H. WILSON. SUPERINTENDENT 
E. N. COLLETTE. ASST, SUPERINTENDENT 

January 1, 1918. 
To THE Reader: 

This bulletin has been compiled and issued in the interest of better 
rural school conditions. It deals principally with the subject of con- 
solidated and union graded schools and should be studied carefully by 
all teachers, school board members, and patrons who are interested in 
making the rural schools of this state more efficient. 

It is not our purpose to urge the consolidation of schools against 
the wishes of the people in any community. On the other hand, we 
advise that unless a community can act in peace and harmony it would 
be better to let the schools remain as they are. We believe that a close 
study of this bulletin, in which we have set forth the advantages of 
consolidation the plan of organization and the results obtained in many 
of the consolidated schools, will create a desire to provide better ad- 
vantages for the boys and girls now attending rural schools. We have 
endeavored to give you the best information obtainable from other 
states, in addition to the experience which we have had in our ov/n 
state, on this subject. 

We fully realize that some course must be taken by which we can 
give to the boys and girls in the rural districts high school advantages. 
To send them to town for an education means not only to educate 
them away from the farm (home?) but, in many instances, to educate 
them under conditions very much to their disliking. We do not con- 
tend that it is not best to send the children to high school in the town 
or city when there is no other high school for them to attend. The 
reverse is true. But we do contend that a rural high school conducted 
entirely for the benefit of rural pupils is far more efficient and desirable 
for farm boys and girls than a town high school. 

During my first administration, the Legislature appropriated 
$100,000 to encourage consolidated schools. This was exhausted, and 
the last Legislature appropriated $175,000 for the benefit of consoli- 
dated and union graded schools. This money is available when the 
conditions prescribed by law are met. 



We trust that school boards, teachers and county superintendents 
will interest themselves in this subject to the extent that when the 
Legislature meets again this appropriation will have been exhausted 
and we will be ready for another appropriation. We trust that the 
county superintendents and teachers will inform the people throughout 
the state as to how this money is to be secured. 

Mr. E. A. Duke, who has compiled the information for this 
bulletin, is devoting his entire time to the rural schools in the com- 
munities desiring to consolidate. He will be glad to answer all ques- 
tions and assist in every way possible tO' promote the interest of better 
rural school education. I trust that those who are interested will not 
hesitate to write to him for any information desired, but do not write 
until you have read this bulletin thoroughly because we have tried to 
cover all of the points with reference to consolidated and union graded 
schools in this bulletin. 

Yours respectfully, 

R. H. Wilson, 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 



A short while after I took up the work of rural school supervision, 
Superintendent Wilson requested me to gather data and prepare a 
bulletin on the subject of consolidated and union graded schools. This 
little book is the outgrowth of that suggestion. 

It has been my aim to include in this bulletin the latest reliable 
information on the subject of consolidation. It was necessary for 
me to call on the state superintendents and supervisors of rural schools 
in other states for information concerning the centralized schools in 
their states. These officers kindly sent me copies of their reports and 
bulletins which were very useful to me in compiling the information 
contained herein. The county superintendents of this state furnished 
me information concerning the consolidated schools in their counties 
and in many instances furnished the pictures used to illustrate this 
little book. The principals and officers of the consolidated districts 
supplied specific information respecting their schools. 

Grateful acknowledgments are made to^ all who have assisted by 
supplying the necessary information that made it possible for me to 
compile this book, and to the General Education Board whose gener- 
osity makes it possible for me to do this work without expense to the 
taxpayers of the state. 

Respectfully submitted, 

E. A. Duke, 

Rural School Supervisor. 



Chapter I. 



GROWTH OF CONSOLIDATION ELSEWHERE 

During a number of years the public has been conscious of the 
fact that our rural schools have not kept pace with the development of 
city and town schools or with the rapid and permanent improvements 
that have been made in the commercial, industrial, and professional 
occupations of our people. Since the rural conditions in all states are 
similar the matter of rural school improvement has assumed national 
importance to the extent that it is the chief concern of our national 
department of education and of our several state educational depart- 
ments. For a number of years the little rural school has occupied a 
prominent place on the educational programs of state and national 
associations of teachers, school directors, welfare workers, and others. 
As a result, many suggestions for the improvement of these schools 
have been made and acted upon, but in many communities the little 
one-room school remains conducted and equipped as it was fifty years 
ago, before automobiles, rural telephones, rural mail routes, improved 
machinery, better railroad facilities, better public roads, better homes, 
and better methods of farming had transformed rural life. This agita- 
tion for better rural schools has led to improvements in a number of 
districts where better houses have been erected, planned and arranged 
in such a way as to make them more sanitary, more comfortable, and 
more suited to the needs of the present day. In these progressive dis- 
tricts equipment for domestic science, agriculture and manual training 
work has been provided and modern heating plants installed. In a 
large number of districts, however, buildings of the old type have been 
erected recently and the people have been content to leave them with- 
out equipment of any sort, aside from the furniture. 

After a better school building is provided and properly equipped, 
the people of the district are frequently disappointed when they find 
that these improved physical conditions do not solve the rural school 
problem, because of the natural and artificial limitations that hedge the 
little school about on all sides. The taxable valuation of the district 
and the number of educable children remain the same after the better 
building and more complete equipment are provided. To secure a 
longer term in the better building, it becomes necessary to raise the 
tax levy. There is no more competition between the pupils in the 
classes than before because the classes are no larger than they formerly 
were. The length of the school day remains the same, just 330 min- 
utes. The pupils in the first grade are assigned not more than thirty 
minutes of this time on the daily program — only nineteen minutes in 
Oklahoma — ^while the seventh and eighth grades are assigned three or 

(7) 



four times as much time because of the larger number of studies pur- 
sued by these higher grades. The teacher in Oklahoma cannot reduce 
the number of recitations below twenty-six if the eight common school 
grades are enrolled and all the subjects required are taught. Often 
the number of recitations is nearer forty than twenty-six, especially 
when either an inexperienced or fossilized teacher is in charge of the 
school. Because of the limited valuation and the unsatisfactory nature 
of rural school work, it is rather difficult to retain good teachers in 
these communities, as many city superintendents recruit their faculties 
by employing successful rural teachers to fill vacancies as they occur in 
the cities. 

Since the improvement in the physical equipment cannot overcome 
those natural and artificial limitations that beset the little one-room 
country school where eight grades are enrolled, and since the school 
day is so chopped up by short recitation periods in the effort to include 
all the subjects in a modern course of study, it frequently happens that 
the discontent of the people in the district is as great after the new 
building is constructed and equipped as before. It is not possible for 
one teacher to do satisfactory high school work, which the people in 
these progressive districts begin to demand for their children. Such 
communities realize, after a while, that it requires more than a good 
building and good equipment to make a good school. As a result, sen- 
timent for further improvement begins to crystalize in the community 
and an effort is soon made to secure the advantages of a graded school. 
In some districts another teacher is added, in other communities con- 
solidated schools are organized by combining several districts in such 
a way as to overcome those limitations of low valuation, small number 
of pupils, short recitations, and a course of study restricted to the first 
eight grades. Before building and equipping new one-room school 
buildings, therefore, the people in the district should carefully study 
conditions with a view to ascertaining whether or not it will be more 
economical or more satisfactory to organize a consolidated or union 
graded district. 

Consolidation of rural schools is no longer in the experimental 
stage. It is a proven success, and this fact should be borne in mind 
in all of our discussions. We should also bear in mind the fact that 
the progressive districts are the ones that consolidate. 

Massachusetts, the state that first developed the small district 
school, was, also, the first to begin consolidation. In the year 1847 a 
rural school in eastern Massachusetts was closed and the children were 
transported to an adjoining distict, though this was done without ex- 
press authority of law. Twenty years later, in 1867, the legislature of 
Massachusetts passed the first law authorizing consolidation. Inas- 
much as no transportation was provided for under this act, no districts 
were formed until after the legislature amended the law to provide for 
transportation, 1869. The district at Montague, Massachusetts, was 
the first to organize under this act, 1875, and the second was organized 
at Concord, 1879. Since that time consolidation has spread, slowly at 

(8) 



first but more rapidly lately. The following letter from the United 
States Commissioner of Education describes the present development 
attained in this movement and the recent activity along this line : 

"On February 13, 1917, a request was sent to each State Superintendent, 
asking the number of consolidated schools in the State at that time and the 
number that had been established during the past three years. Answers were 
received from all except Arizona. The following is digested fron; the answers 
received from 30. The 17 not included reported that no data was available or 
their answers were too indefinite to be used. These 17 included Connecticut, 
Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New 
York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, 
Wyoming. 

Of the 30 mentioned below, 26 report 5,132 consolidated schools. The 
number in Maine, Florida, North Carolina and West Virginia is not given. 
These latter three, together with Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Utah, Vir- 
ginia and Wisconsin, have many consolidated or schools similar to consolidated 
schools. A conservative estimate of the total number in the United States, 
including 'Consolidated', 'Centralized', and 'Union' schools is 7,500. 

Alabama. Total, 69 consolidated schools, 61 of which were established 
during the past school year; 168 schools were abandoned in making these con- 
solidations; 48 of the consolidations were effected by bringing together two 
schools, 16 by three schools three by four schools and two by five or more 
schools. 

Arkansas. Total, 125, of which 86 were established during the past three 
years. 

California. Total, 27. 

Colorado. Total, 21. 

Delaware. Total, 1. 

Florida. The State Department has no record of the total number; ap- 
proximately $50,000 was paid in 1915-16 for transportation to consolidated 
schools. 

Georgia. In 1915-16 there were 159 consolidated schools to which 3,123 
pupils were transported at public expense. ' The number of consolidated 
schools is increasing approximately 25 per cent each year.' 

Illinois. The State Department reports 10 consolidated schools, three of 
which were established during the past three years by abolishing 11 district 
schools. 

Indiana. Total, 706, 41 of which were established in the past two years. 

Iowa. Total, 214, 181 of which were established in the past three years. 
The number of schools abandoned for consolidated schools is 1,284; the average 
area for consolidated districts is 24 sections. 

Kansas. Of the 94 consolidated schools in the State 12 have been estab- 
lished during the past three years. Two hundred and thirty-six districts were 
consolidated to form these 94. 

Kentucky. Total, 41, 36 of which were established during the past three 
years. The 36 replaced 120 one-teacher schools. Only 14 of the consolidated 
schools furnish free transportation. 

Louisiana. The State Department reports 818 consolidated schools, of 
which 580 were established during the past three years. Included in this 
number, however, are 'all rural schools having two or more teachers; that is, 
all such schools located in communities of 2,500 population, or less.' 

Maine. No statistics are available relative to the total number; the 
number of one-room rural schools has decreased in the past three years from 
2,459 to 2,358. 

Michigan. Total eight. 

Minnesota. In 1916 there were 220 consolidated schools of which 140 
were established in the past three years. The consolidated schools replaced 
454 schools of the old type. 

(9) 




Consolidated School and Teacheragfe, Mississippi 

Mississippi. Nearly all the consolidation has taken place in the last five 
years. In 1916 consolidated schools were found in 64 counties. There were 
290 schools with 977 teachers, 725 wagons, and 14,643 pupils transported. The 
enrolment in the schools was 33,037. 

Missouri. Total, 122, all consolidated within the past three years. 

Nebraska. Total, 28. 

Nevada. Three consolidated schools effected during the past three years 
take the place of six schools of the old type. 

North Carolina. In the year ending July, 1916, 84 districts were consoli- 
dated into 36 new districts. Since 1913 the number of one-teacher schools has 
decreased 516, or 14 per cent. 

North Dakota. Total, 401, 211 of which were established in the past 
three years. The 401 replace approximately 1,200 schools of the old type. 

Ohio. Ohio in 1914 had 358 consolidated schools; in 1915, 468; in 1916, 539. 

Oklahoma. Total, 103, of which 19 were established during the past two 
years; 77 of these consolidated districts replace 215 old districts. 

Rhode Island. In the State there is one consolidated school established 
by the union of four ungraded schools; 23 other ungraded schools have been 
closed and the pupils transported to graded schools already established. 

South Carolina. Four hundred 'rural graded schools' were in operation 
in 1914-15, 562 in 1915-16, and 700 in 1916-17. These are the schools receiving 
special State aid under the act of the State legislature of 1912 to encourage 
consolidated and graded schools in country districts. 

South Dakota. Total 24, of which 20 were effected during the past year. 

Tennessee. Total, 404, of which 261 were established during the past 
three years. 

Washington. June 30, 1916, there were 161, 39 of which were established 
during the past three years. 

West Virginia. There are 24 consolidated schools which provide trans- 

(10) 



portation, and a considerable number of others without transportation. In 
1915-16, 250 one-room schools were abandoned and consolidated into small 
graded schools. In Wayne County, in six years 60 one-room schools have been 
consolidated into 26 graded schools of from two to four rooms." 

The following extracts from letters received from state superin- 
tendents and supervisors throw additional light upon the subject of 
consolidation and the progress being made elsewhere in this respect : 

"Eeplying to your inquiry concerning school consolidation in this State, 
beg leave to say that we have, as yet, made very little progress along this 
line, there being only eight consolidated schools in this state." — -C. O. Case, 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Phoenix, Arizona. 

The eight consolidated schools in Arizona are located as follows : 
Four in Maricopa County, two in Greenlee County and two in Pinol 
County : 

"Each year a few consolidated schools are being established. In this 
state, however, a consolidated school becomes a state graded school and is not 
known by any particular name. Many of the state graded schools are really, 
to all intents and purposes, consolidated schools, although we do not call them 
so. Transportation is being carried on in a number of localities. In one 
locality. North Crandon, they have now transported the children to their cen- 
tral school for 10 years. 

Consolidation has made greater progress during the last few years on 
account of a law that offers special state aid to consolidated districts. ' ' — C. P. 
Cary, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Madison, Wis. 

"I am glad to say that the progress being made in consolidation in this 
State is very encouraging. Within the past year or so we have abandoned 
about 100 one-teacher school districts and within that time have increased the 
number of two-teacher schools to approxomately 35%. The sentiment for 
consolidation in this State today is stronger than ever laef ore and I confidently 
expect to see it continue in its momentum for some years to come." — L. C. 
Brogden, Sate Supervisor Eural Schools, Ealeigh, N. C. 

"We are uniting districts where this is the best policy. We provide 
transportation and it is not limited to two miles or any distance. Sometimes 
all the children who live more than one mile from the school are conveyed to 
school." — Charles D. Hine, Secretary State Board of Education, Hartford, 
Conn. 



"Last year 67 of our 100 counties expended $83,569 for transportation of 
pupils, and this fact indicates in a general way the amount of consolidation in 
Virginia. ' ' — W. T. Hodge, State School Inspector, Eichmond, Va. 

' ' The schools in many of the towns have been consolidated. In some of 
these towns consolidation has been complete. In others, the distance and 
character of the roads make transportation of pupils difficult and the consoli- 
dation of schools impracticable. Some of the best schools in our State are 
conducted in one-room buildings and in some of these schools, in addition to 
the usual subjects, agriculture, cooking, sewing, and other forms of practical 
arts are taught with very satisfactory results. At the present time, however, 
there are only 965 one-room buildings in use in the State. Of this number, 
478 provide for the education of children of all grades below the high school 
and 544 provide for the education of children below the seventh grade, the 
older children being transported to central schools. 

The township is in every case the unit of supervision. The school dis- 
tricts were abolished many years ago in Massachusetts. The consolidated 
school is usually situated in a village, Eural schools — one or two-room 
buildings — may be distributed in portions of the township remote from this 

(11) 



village, or, in ease of complete consolidation, vehicles of various kinds bring 
the children in from the remote parts of the township to the central school. 

In most places where consolidation has taken place, the people are well 
satisfied with the results. There are a few places, however, where the dis- 
tances were too great, and the character of the roads too bad for consolidation. 
In these cases, one-room school buildings have been reopened. 

The chief advantages of consolidation of schools in Massachusetts have 
been: 

1. The opportunities to grade the schools, in many cases giving 
a single grade to a teacher chosen for her ability in handling a given 
grade. 

2. Improvement of teaching service. 

3. Increasing recitation time per pupil. 

4. Enlarging the opportunity for social training. 

5. Making possible the development of practical arts and house- 
hold arts courses. 

6. Providing opportunities for the development of organized play. 

It is not, as a rule, cheaper to consolidate the schools, although more 
children are in most cases assigned to a teacher. Transportation, in many 
cases, makes consolidation more expensive per pupil. The progress of con- 
solidation in this State is indicated by the increase in the amount paid for the 
conveyance of school children, as noted in the following table: 

Expenditures for Transportation of School Children 
in Massachusetts Public Schools 1900-1915. 

1900-01 $151,772.47 1908-09 $292,213.33 

1901-02 165,595.91 1909-10 310,422.15 

1902-03 178,297.64 1910-11 322,857.19 

1903-04 194,967.35 1911-12 353,185.09 

1904-05 213,320.92 1912-13 384,149.45 

1905-06 236,415.40 1913-14 426,274.11 

1906-07 252,451.11 1914-15 467,196.10 

1907-08 265,574.09 

May I say further that as roads improved and new trolley lines oj^ened, the 
opportunities for the consolidation of schools thus afforded are utilized by the 
communities. While such rapid progress cannot be expected in the future as 
in the past, the tendency toward consolidation has gained such headway that 
gradually the outlying schools with small enrolments will be closed and the 
pupils conveyed to the central school. ' ' — Massachusetts Board of Education, 
Boston, Mass. 



"We are seeking at this session of the legislature to get a stronger law 
on the consolidation matter." — Francis Gr. Blair, State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, Springfield, 111. 

"As you know, our progress has been phenomenal. Less than one-fifth 
of the teachers of our State and the pupils, as well, attend one-teacher schools. 
Many parishes have less than five per cent of the pupils in such schools, while 
two or three parishes composed of agricultural people have entirely eliminated 
this inferior type. This brief statement is about as effective for the purpose 
you have in mind as a much longer one." — C. J. Brown, Kural School Agent, 
Louisiana. 



"For your information, I will say that the last legislature in Alabama 
enacted a law, designated "The County Board Law", which authorizes the 
consolidation of schools and transportation of pupils at public expense. Up 
to the time of the passage of this law, public funds could not be used for 
transportation purposes and there was a great deal of red tape necessary to 
change district lines. Since the passage of our new law, we have effected 61 
consolidations in this State. The number includes the consolidations made on 
small as well as large scales. 

(12) 




Hig-h School Boys' Basketball Team, Amber Consolidated District, Grady County 



There is a great deal of interest being manifested in the various counties 
of the State in this movement and we expect quite a bit of progrss during the 
next two or three years. We feel especially encouraged in that the last legis- 
lature increased the amount of State aid for the erection, repair and equip- 
ment of rural school houses from a maximum of $200 to $1,000 in the ease 
of buildings of a large type." — J. B. Hobdy, Eural School Agent, Alabama. 



"Centralization of schools began in Ohio in 1890. Since then the move- 
ment of centralization and consolidation has had a steady and rapid growth. 
Last June, there were in the State of Ohio 354 consolidated schools and 185 
centralized schools. By a centralized school, we mean one in which all the 
children of a rural school district are transported to one central building. In 
a consolidated school, all of the pupils, with the exception of one or two out- 
lying districts, are transported to a central building. 

One noticeable feature in the spread of centralization has been its appar- 
ent contagion. Where centralization is tried in a new section, it is noted 
that within a few years school districts contiguous to the centralized district 
begin to consolidate. This centralization appears to be 'caught' through 
acquaintance with the system. The strongest opponents of centralization have 
been and are those who are the least acquainted with the actual workings of 
centralized schools. Communities becoming acquainted with centralization 
are much more likely to adopt it as a plan of organization for the schools. 

Another significant fact in regard to the centralized schools of Ohio is 
that where once centralized the schools have never voted back to the one- 
room plan, although the statutes of the State give opportunity to do this any 
time after three years have elapsed from the time the schools were centralized. 

Eural school men in Ohio are decidedly of the opinion that consolidation 
or centralization is an indispensable element in the progress of modern rural 
schools. Every desired reform in rural schools either depends partially or 
entirely upon centralization or consolidation for its complete and permanent 
success." — F. B. Pearson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ohio. 

Under date of April 24, 1917, Hon. J. V. Chapman, State Super- 
visor of Rural Schools, Kentucky, reported 53 white and 17 colored 
consolidated schools in his state, or a total of 70, representing an in- 

(13) 




A Consollclated School at Mtayslick, Kentucky 



crease of 65 during the past three years. It appears that 29 consoli- 
dated districts were organized in Kentucky between February and 
May, 1917. . 

It will be observed from the foregoing that interest in consolida- 
tion is nation wide. In some states it has progressed farther than in 
others. In Indiana and Massachusetts, for example, great progress has 
been possible because the schools in those states are organized with 
the township as the unit. In Indiana, the township trustee controls 
all the schools in his township and he has been a potent factor in bring- 
ing about consolidations. In Louisiana where a county board of edu- 
cation has control of all the schools in the county unusual progress has 
been made in uniting weak schools and building up a strong system 
of rural schools. On the other hand, Illinois, like Oklahoma, has its 
schools organized on the district as a unit and it is much more difficult 
to organize consolidated schools in these states. Until July, 1917, the 
law did not authorize transportation of pupils at public expense in 
Illinois, and, as a result, fewer consolidated schools were organized 
in that state than in those adjoining. 

There are many successful consolidated schools in Canada and 
foreign countries operating under all kinds of unfavorable and favor- 
able weather conditions. 

BENEFITS 

Wherever consolidation has been tried, the following advantages 
have been noted: 

ADVANTAGES TO PUPILS 
1. Larger classes result in keener rivalry among the children 
and cause subject matter of recitation to be more fully developed be- 
cause of different viewpoints. 

(14) 




Hig-h School Girls' Basketball Team, Amtoer Consolidated District, Grady County 

2. Better grading and classification, a larger number of recita- 
tions and more personal instruction from the teacher. 

3. Longer time for each recitation. 

4. A longer term of school follows consolidation because the 
people in the district demand that the better school be kept open longer 
each year, 

5. Extends the circle of acquaintances and broadens the ex- 
perience of children. 

6. Increases enrollment and attendance. 

7. Attendance more regular because child can go to school in 
district wagon ; whereas, at present, under the small district plan, chil- 
dren living at a distance from the little one-room school depend upon 
the convenience and caprice of parents who may or may not furnish 
them a team and vehicle during bad weather, or during the busy season. 

8. Because of better grading, longer recitation periods and 
terms, and more regular attendance, pupils complete the high school 
course at approximately the same age they now complete the eighth 
grade in the one-room rural school. This saving in time has a value 
that cannot be estimated in dollars and cents. 

9. Athletics and literary societies for boys and girls are possible 
because of the larger enrollment from which to draw. This results in 
better training, better health and better school spirit. 

10. Pupils like the school because of superior advantages. 

11. Have advantage of thorough training in special subjects such 
as drawing, music, etc. 

12. Trains country children for success on farm and elsewhere 
by offering a practical course of study under favorable conditions. 

13. Taught by teachers trained for their work. (Because of im- 
proved conditions in a number of our consolidated schoolsythe Boards 

(15) 



have been able to secure as grade teachers some of the best and most 
successful city teachers, thus beginning a back-to-the-country move- 
ment on the part of teachers. Such schools can and do compete with 
city boards in securing a trained principal.) 

14. Pupils who ride to school form habits of promptness and 
punctuality. 

15. Better health of pupils who are furnished transportation. 

16. Reduces quarreling on the road to and from school, because 
pupils are under supervision from the time they leave home until they 
return. 

17. Smaller children are protected from the district bully. 

18. Have advantage of a better building properly lighted and 
heated. Ride in vans built for hauling pupils and are, therefore, more 
comfortable than the discarded vehicles which are usually furnished 
children by their parents. 

19. Makes high school training for rural children possible. 

20. Provides departmental work and laboratory facilities for 
advanced pupils. 

21. Practical courses in Agriculture, Domestic Science, and A'lan- 
ual Training furnish incentive for pupils to complete the high school 
course. Also possible in a consolidated district to organize and direct 
the playground activities of the pupils, thus making the school work 
more attractive and beneficial. 

22. Pupils of high school age remain at home under the watch- 
ful care of parents, while receiving their high school training. 

23. A larger number of pupils complete the eighth grade in the 
district because of the better school and the opportunity to secure 
high school training at home. 

24. All pupils in the school have advantage of better equipment, 
larger and more varied library, and a country school equal in all re- 
spects to the best city school. 

25. It gives an opportunity to the promising, ambitious boy or 
girl, regardless of wealth. 

ADVANTAGES TO TEACHERS 

26. Close supervision by trained and experienced principal. 

27. Fewer grades to teach, larger classes, and more interest, 
therefore, work can be done with more satisfaction to all concerned. 

28. Lessons may be planned and prepared in advance. This is 
almost impossible in the one-room school where the teacher has from 
26 to 40 recitations to hear each day. 

29. Teacher is assigned to grade to which she is adapted by 
nature, training and experience. 

30. Inexperienced or weak teacher has the support of the prin- 
cipal and other teachers in the school. 

31. Teachers can confer frequently, hold faculty meetings and 
promote efficiency of the school through the co-operation that follows 
organized effort, team work and close association. 

(16) 




Senior Class, Amber Consolidated School 

32. Social advantages are similar to town environment and teach- 
ers are more contented. 

33. Teachers' home or teacherage may be provided. 

34. Teachers can save more money w^hen teaching in a consoli- 
dated district and living in the teacherage. 

35. The problem of discipline is made easier. 

36. Proper methods of instruction may be employed, thus giving 
the teacher an opportunity to improve professionally. 

37. Longer tenure on the part of teachers. 

ADVANTAGES TO PARENTS 

38. Do not have to move to town to educate their children and 
leave their farms to depreciate in the hands of tenants. 

39. It is not necessary to break up the home circle by having the 
mother and children move to town to secure school advantages while 
the father remains on the farm to earn a living for the family. 

40. The consolidated school properly conducted is a school for 
adults as well as for children. Farm experiments can be tried out on 
the demonstration farm. Milk and seed can be tested and orchards 
sprayed by the class in Agriculture, while farm machinery can be re- 
paired by Manual Training Class. The school should be made to serve 
the community that supports it. 

41. Through the practical teaching of Agriculture and Domestic 
Science, pupils become more intelligent and interested helpers on the 
farm and around the home. 

42. Saved the annoyance and inconvenience of transporting their 
own children to school during the bad weather or sparing a team for 
the children during the busy season. 

(17) 



43. Can provide children with better education than possible un- 
der present condition. 

44. Know their children are under supervision from the time 
they leave home in the morning until they return at night. 

45. Parent of large boy can take contract to haul pupils and fur- 
nish the boy with employment as driver, thus making it possible for 
him to remain in school. (A great many large pupils are driving 
transportation wagons in Oklahoma consolidated districts.) 

ADVANTAGES TO COMMUNITY 

46. Consolidation leads to better roads. 

47. Better homes. 

48. Increased land values. 

49. Pride in community and civic improvement. 

50. Prosperity through improved methods in agriculture. 

51. The consolidated school becomes the community center and 
leads to improvement through lectures, debates and other forms of 
entertainment. 

52. Has broadening influence on the people, as they become ac- 
customed to thinking in terms larger than the one-room school. 

54. Leads to co-operation, along other lines. 

55. Provides high school opportunities for the children whose 
parents cannot afiford to send them to a town school and pay tuition 
for them, thus making the community a desirable place in which to live. 

56. School library is available for entire district. 

57. Farms abandoned before consolidation are occupied after- 
wards because, of the school. 

58. The tenants attracted to the district are of the best type, 
parents who are ambitious for their children. 

59. Money now transferred to other districts is used to build up 
a good school in the consolidated district, a school that is controlled 
by the people in the community and made to meet the needs of the 
people who support it. 

60. It enlarges the unit of taxation, and thus distributes the cost 
of the schools more equitably. 

61. Because of the larger area there is less variation in the en- 
rollment and attendance from year to year than in the smaller district 
hence community maintains a school of uniform standard. 

62. Money is saved in incidental expenses, and the people un- 
doubtedly secure larger returns for the money invested in the school. 

63. The central school has more dignity, more character, more 
force than the rural school, and evokes more pride, interest and sup- 
port on the part of the people. At every point of comparison the con- 
solidated school is superior to the one-room school. 

64. The consolidated school goes a long ways towards the solu- 
tion of the problem "How to keep the boys on the farm." 

(18) 



65. When the people realize that they are providing advantages 
for their children equal to those of any other district, self-respect and 
respect for the community increases many fold. 

66. "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good 
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of 
education shall forever be encouraged." Article III, ordinance of 1787. 

67. "What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, 
that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal 
for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon it destroys our 
democracy." — Prof. John Dewey, Chicago University. 

68. "It is my hope that the time may soon come when the poorest 
child, living in the meanest hovel on the remotest mountainside, or in 
the most secluded valley in all this commonwealth may enjoy every 
educational advantage he is willing to improve." — Governor Martin G. 
Brumbaugh, Pennsylvania. 



(19) 



Chapter II. 



CONSOLIDATION IN OKLAHOMA 

The causes that have led to consohdation of schools in other states 
exist in Oklahoma where they are gradually producing the same effect. 
In this state our rural schools have been improved rapidly. More sub- 




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(20) 



stantial buildings and better equipment have taken the place of the 
rude school houses and meager equipment that satisfied the earlier 
settlers, but in too many instances the new buildings have been poorly 
planned. The qualifications of the teachers have been raised by law. 
The supervision of the rural schools has been strengthened as the 
roads have been improved and automobiles have become common. 
Each year an increasing number of pupils complete the eighth grade 
and enter the high school, making the demand for high school facilities 
greater than at any time in our previous history. The legislature, by 
amending the transfer law, has placed the responsibility of furnishing 
high school instruction squarely upon the district in which the pupil 
lives, making it mandatory that the district furnish this high school 
training in the home school or pay the tuition of the child in the high 
school of another district. Two types of districts known as the Con- 
solidated District and the Union Graded District have been devised 
to meet this growing demand for rural high school education. 




Consolidated School at TeKhoma, Texas County 

The same limitations that beset the one-room rural schools in 
other states apply with equal force to Oklahoma. As the physical 
conditions have been improved, parents and teachers have come to 
realize that these natural and artificial limitations to the growth and 
usefulness of the one-teacher school are not overcome because the 
schools remain ungraded and the country children are not given op- 
portunities equal to those furnished children in the consolidated, town 
and city schools. Therefore, there is a growing demand for consoli- 
dated and union graded schools in which children living on the farms 
may be prepared for their life's work. 

The first consolidated school in Oklahoma was organized in 1903, 

(21) 



fourteen years ago. The county superintendents of Oklahoma in 1916 
reported 103 consolidated schools in this state, 19 of which were or- 
ganized during 1915 and 1916. More detailed reports received during 
the summer of 1917 show that a number of the so-called consolidated 
districts are, in fact, union graded schools. This mistake arises through 
misunderstanding, many superintendents having confused the two types 
of districts. 

A consolidated district in Oklahoma is a school district formed by 
uniting two or more districts, or parts of districts. Only one school 
is maintained in the district and all pupils living two miles, or more, 
from the school house must be furnished transportation to and from 
the school at the expense of the consolidated district. The law pro- 
vides that newly organized consolidated districts must have an area 
of not less than twenty-five square miles and a taxable valuation of 
not less than $200,000. An exception is made in cases of districts 





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School Building' Consolidated District No. 2, Harper County 

having $500,000 of taxable valuation, as such may be formed with less 
than twenty-five square miles of area. 

A Union Graded School District in Oklahoma is formed by the 
union of two or more districts. The first six grades are taught in the 
several one-room buildings in the Union Graded District and the 
seventh, eighth and high school grades are taught in the central school. 
No transportation of pupils is required in a union graded district and 
there are no limitations as to area and taxable valuation. 



(22) 



The consolidated districts reported in Oklahoma prior to 191? 
are located in the following counties 

Alfalfa 
Beaver 
Beckham 
Blaine 
Caddo 
Carter 
Cleveland 
Comanche 
Cotton 
Custer 
Dewey 
Garfield 
Grady 

Reports received from the county superintendents during the 
summer of 1917 show that the following consolidated districts have 
been organized since December 1, 1916 : 



Grant 


Okmulgee 


Greer 


Osage 


Harper 


Pawnee 


Jackson 


Payne 


Johnston 


Pottawatomie 


Kay 


Pushmataha 


Kiowa 


Eogers 


Latimer 


Sequoyah 


Logan 


Texas 


Muskogee 


Tillman 


Okfuskee 


Washington 


Oklahoma 


Washita 



Blaine 
Caddo 
Custer 
Greer 



Johnston 1 

Kingfisher 1 



Oklahoma 3 

Okmulgee 1 

Stephens 1 

Texas 1 

Tillman 1 



Comparing the foregoing lists, it will be observed that with two 
exceptions the new districts are in counties that already had consoli- 
dated schools. Consolidation spreads most rapidly in those counties 
where it has been tried, and this is the greatest recommendation that 
can be given schools of this type. 




Consolidated School at Chelsea Rog'ers County 

(23) 



COMPARISONS 

Attention has been called to the limitation as to time the teachers 
devote to each grade in the ordinary one-room school. To make this 
illustration concrete, let us compare the following daily programs of 
recitations actually used in two Oklahoma schools during the year 
1917-18: 



Time 



DAILY PEOGRAM OF RECITATIONS 1917-18 
In a One-Teacher School — Beckham County- 
Subjects 



Grade 



10 min 


8:50- 


- 9:00 


Music General Exercises 


All Classes 


7 " 


9:00- 


- 9:07 


Eeading 


First Year 


8 " 


9:07- 


- 9:15 


Beading 


Second Year 


12 '' 


9:15- 


- 9:27 


Beading 


Third Year 


13 " 


9:27- 


- 9:40 


Beading- 


Fourth Year 


12 " 


9:40- 


- 9:52 


Beading 


Fifth and Sixth Years 


13 " 


9:52- 


-10:05 


Eeading 


Seventh and Eighth 


10 '' 


10:05- 


-10:15 


Geography 


Fourth Year 


15 " 


10:15- 


-10:30 


Writing and Drawing 
BE CESS. 


All Classes 


15 '' 


10:45- 


-11:00 


Arithmetic 


Fifth and Sixth Years 


20 " 


11:00- 


-11:20 


Arithmetic 


Seventh and Eighth 


5 " 


11:20- 


-11:25 


Numbers 


First Year 


5 " 


11:25- 


-11:30 


Numbers 


Second Year 


15 " 


11 : so- 


-11:45 


Arithmetic 


Third and Fourth 


15 " 


il: 45- 


-12:00 


United States History 
NOON. 


Seventh and Eighth 


7 " 


1:00- 


- 1:07 


Beading and Language 


First Year 


8 " 


1:07- 


- 1:15 


Eeading and Language 


Second Year 


12 " 


1:15- 


- 1:27 


Beading and Language 


Third Year 


13 " 


1:27- 


- 1:40 


Language 


Fourth and Fifth Years 


15 " 


1:40- 


- 1:55 


Grammar 


Seventh and Eighth 


20 " 


1:55- 


- 2:15 


Language 


Sixth Year 


15 " 


2:15- 


- 2:30 


Physiology or Domestic 


Seventh Year 



Science 
BE CESS. 



15 


( i 


2:45— 


3:00 


Geography or History 


Fifth Year 


15 


1 1 


3:00— 


3:15 


Oklahoma History and 
divics 


Eighth Year 


15 


i I 


3:15— 


3:30 


Geography or Hj^giene 


Sixth Year 


15 


C i 


3:30— 


3:45 


Geography & Agriculture 


Seventh Year 


5 


C i 


3:45— 


3:50 


Spelling 


Third and Fourth Years 


5 


< ( 


3:50— 


3:55 


Spelling ^ 


Fifth and Sixth Years 


5 


1 1 


3:55— 


4:00 


Spelling 

(24) 


Seventh and Eighth 



DAILY PROGRAM OF RECITATIONS 1917-18 

(First Eight Grades) 

In a Consolidated School District, Four Teachers in the First Eight Grades, 
and Three in the High School, Beckham County 



First and Second Grades 

Opening Exercises 15 

Primary Beading 25 

Second Eeader 20 

First Eeader 30 

RECESS 

Primary Numbers 20 

Second Grade Numbers 25 

First Grade Numbers 15 

NOON 

Primary Eeading 20 

Second Eeader 25 

First Eeader 15 

Writing — All 15 

EECESS 

Second Grade Spelling 15 

First Grade Spelling 15 

Music, Story-Telling and 

Games — All 30 

Fifth and Sixth Grades 

Sixth Eeader 30 

Fifth Spelling 15 

EECESS' 

Fifth Eeader 25 

Sixth Grammar 35 

Fifth Geography 25 

Miscellaneous 10 

Sixth Spelling 20 

NOON 

Fifth Arithmetic .-.- 30 

Sixth Arithmetic 30 

Fifth Spelling 20 

EECESS 

Sixth Geography 25 

Fifth History 25 

Hygiene — All 25 



Third and Fourth Grades 

Opening Exercises 15 min. 

Third Eeader 30 " 

Fourth Eeader 30 " 

Third Arithmetic 25 " 

EECESS 
Third and Fourth Penman- 
ship and Drawing 15 " 

Fourth Arithmetic 25 " 

Third Spelling 15 " 

Fourth Spelling 15 " 

NOON 

Third Language 25 " 

Fourth Language 25 " 

Third Eeader 30 " 

EECESS 

Fourth Geography 30 " 

Nature Study — All 20 " 

Physiology — All 20 " 

Seventh and Eighth Grades 

Eighth Arithmetic 25 " 

Seventh Arithmetic 25 " 

7th and 8th Geography 20 " 

EECESS 

Eighth Okla. History 25 '' 

Seventh Physiology 20 " 

Eighth Grammar 30 " 

NOON 

7th & 8th Domestic Science.. 25 " 

Seventh Grammar 25 " 

Eighth Spelling 20 " 

Seventh Spelling 20 " 

EECESS 

7th and 8th Agriculture 30 " 

7th and 8th U. S. History 25 " 

7th and 8th Eeading 20 " 



The schedule of recitation in the high school is not given because 
there is no high school work offered in the little one-room school with 
which the following comparisons are made. 

In making the comparisons, it will be observed that the first grade 
in the consolidated district recites seventy-five minutes, while in the 
one-room school this grade recites only nineteen minutes. In other 
words, the first grade in the consolidated district receives four times 

(25) 



as much attention from the teacher as the same grade in the one-room 
school receives. Making the same comparison for the other classes, we 
find that the second grade in the consolidated district receives almost 
six times as much time and attention as the second grade in the one- 
room school ; the third grade receives four and one-half times as much ; 
the fourth grade four times as much; the fifth grade four times as 
much; the sixth grade almost three times as much, and the seventh 
and eighth grades more than twice as much time. In addition to this, 
we find that arrangements for furnishing high school instruction have 
been provided for the pupils in the consolidated district, while no such 
instruction is provided for the pupil in the rural school. This increase 
in the amount of time devoted to each grade has a value that cannot 
be measured in terms of dollars and cents. 




Consolidated School at Yale, Payne County 

However, for the sake of comparison, let us examine the cost of 
these two schools. Last year the entire expense of operating the one- 
room rural school for a term of 140 days was $762.29. The average 
daily attendance in the school was 21 pupils. The cost per pupil per 
day was, therefore, 25 cents. The consolidated school was in session 
160 days and operated at a total cost of $6,934.30 with 162 pupils in 
average daily attendance. The cost per pupil per day was, therefore, 
27 cents. In other words, 19 minutes of the teacher's time and at- 
tention cost the child in the first grade of the one-room school 25 cents 
while the child in the first grade of the consolidated school received 90 
minutes of time and attention at a cost of 27 cents. Bear in mind that 
the cost of the high school is included in the total per capita cost of the 
consolidated school and that the high school costs more than the grades. 

(26) 



Deducting the cost of the high school department, we would probably 
find that the first eight grades in the consolidated school were not only 
taught better but they were taught more cheaply than the eight grades 
in the one-room school. 

It follows that the child attending the consolidated school where 
he receives from two to five times as much of the teachers' time and 
attention, will complete the course of study earlier than it will be 
completed by the child attending the one-room school, thus saving the 
district the expense of keeping him in school longer than necessary 
and making it possible for the child to get more schooling in the same 
length of time that he now spends in the one-teacher school. 

Measured in terms of time, or efficiency, or interest, or oppor- 
tunity, or dollars and cents, the little one-room school is our most ex- 
pensive and" extravagant educational institution. 

THE SCHOOL BUILDING 

It is not necessary to build an expensive school house at the time 
the consolidated district is formed. In fact, some of the consolidated 




Front and Bear View of Goltry School, Alfalfa County. This Type of Buildingf 

Is Suitable for Consolidated and Union Graded Districts as It Can he Added 

to at Small Expense and Without Destroying the Archtectural Beauty 

(27) 



districts in this state and elsewhere have very ordinary buildings, 
while several have moved the one-room buildings to a central point and 
are still using them. 

The State Department of Education recommends that in organiz- 
ing a consolidated school district no attempt should be made to trans- 
plant to the country a city school system offering the conventional 
city course of study. The consolidated school should meet the needs 
of country life, offering a course of study that will fit the boys and 
girls for work in the country, just as the city schools attempt to fit the 
city boy and girl for work in the city. An ideal consolidated district 
will contain not more than 36 square miles with a valuation sufficient 
to maintain a good school on a levy not in excess of ten mills. The 
building should be sufficient for the present needs of the district and 
so planned that it can be added to from time to time as the school 
develops. The school site should consist of at least ten acres, at least 
five acres of which should be used as a demonstration farm. A teach- 
erage sufficient for the needs of the principal and his family, with 
rooms for the other teachers, should be provided. The principal should 
be a man who has had extensive training in agriculture and he should 
be employed for twelve months. No child should be located farther 
than seven miles from the school house in districts where the roads 
are unusually good; not so far in districts where the roads are poor. 

Inspection By Persons Interested 

There are few communities situated so far from a consolidated 
school district in this state at this time that a committee of citizens 
cannot visit and make a personal inspection of the practical working 
of the consolidated school ; but it is ofttimes difficult to persuade per- 
sons living within a half dozen miles of one of these districts to go and 
see for themselves whether or not it is the type of school they desire 
for their children. A personal inspection will convince one that the 
objections usually offered are largely based on hearsay, that the dif- 
ficulties are largely imaginary, and that those who opposed the or- 
ganization of the district in the beginning are frequently loudest in 
their praise of its benefits. In making a personal inspection the com- 
mittee should visit the school and compare the work being done with 
the work usually done in the one-room rural schools. They should 
converse freely with the teachers, pupils, drivers and members of the 
district board, in order to get from them as much information as pos- 
sible concerning the cost of operation, the nature of the roads, the' 
course of study offered, the time when the first pupil enters the wagon 
and the average time each child spends in the wagon, the health and 
punctuality of children who are transported to and from school, their 
regularity in attendance as compared with those who walk, their prog- 
ress in studies, the percentage of children enumerated actually en- 
rolled in the school and the number transferred from adjoining dis- 
tricts, the number of pupils who have completed the common school 
work and the number who are doing work in the high school. The 

(28) 




School Building- Consolidated District No. 8, Kiowa County 



wagons or auto-busses should be examined and the cost ascertained. 
In many districts in the state wagons have been provided by building 
bodies and mounting them on regular farm wagon running gears at 
very reasonable prices. The Ford truck is also coming into use as a 
means of transportation. After thoroughly inspecting the school plant 
and its operation, the committee should then go to various parts of 
the district and interview as many of the fathers and mothers as pos- 
sible to ascertain at first hand their attitude toward the school. Do 
not trust to hearsay evidence, when in these days of cheap automobiles 
and improved roads it is so easy to find out the facts in the case by 
going and seeing and believing. 

This suggestion is made in all confidence, because after a care- 
ful investigation of consolidated schools in this state I am firmly con- 
vinced that, with the possible exception of two districts of the 103, 
nine out of every ten patrons are satisfied. This was not true of the 
original districts, because more than one-half were dissatisfied with 
the little one-room schools, else they would never have consolidated. 
And why should they not be satisfied with the better school, even 
though it may cost them a few dollars more ? Let us suppose that we 
start out to secure signers to a petition asking that the consolidated 
district be dissolved-. We approach a patron and say in effect, but 
perhaps not in these words: "We want you to sign this petition for 
the abandonment of our graded school so that each of the little school 
houses which we closed several years ago may be opened again and all 
children may be required to go to these little schools where they will 

(29) 



be given less of the teacher's time, where they will be in smaller and 
less interesting classes, where they will have no equipment beyond 
the bare essentials, where they cannot have interesting athletic con- 
tests, or live literary societies, where no high school work can be 
promised or given ; in short, let us put our children back into the little 
schools such as our great grandfathers attended one hundred years 
ago and such as we attended twenty years ago, because what was good 
enough for us is good enough for our boys and girls. Let us do away 
with this transportation and leave the horses now drawing the wagons 
in a warm dry barn on cold and rainy days, kicking up their heels for 
the want of better exercise, while our children trudge to school through 
the dust, wind, heat, cold, snow, slush, or mud, and sit in the cold 
school room with wet clothing and shoes during the day. Let us do 
these things in order to save a few dollars in taxes." Of course, very 
few signatures could be secured to a petition presented with such 
arguments or reasons behind it. However, it is interesting sometimes 
to look through the other end of the telescope just to see how different 
everything appears. If our districts had been organized as consolidated 
districts in the beginning and we had now accustomed ourselves to 
them, what arguments could be used to induce us to abandon them 
for the little one-room schools such as we have throughout the state 
today? 

General Consolidation Not Recommended 

Although our consolidated schools are. located in all sections of 
the state and have proved eminently satisfactory wherever given a fair 
trial, it is not recommended that each community try to consolidate 



fej^' jis^.^l^'W^r^ 




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m&mmim^ ■' 



Consolidated School XTo. 1, Oklahoma County 



at this time. As a matter of fact, there are communities in this state 
that should have good consolidated schools, but where it cannot be 
recommended that such schools be organized, because the people in 
the communities have not yet learned to think in terms larger than the 
small district school. Other communities having people with broader 
vision are so rough in topography, poor in valuation, sparse in popu- 
lation, and have such poor roads that it would not be advisable for 
them to undertake consolidation just now. But there are many com- 
munities where the people are earnestly craving better schools for 
their children and where all the conditions for success are present. 

. County Plan 

It is only a question of time until a majority of the rural dis- 
tricts in the state will desire to organize consolidated or union graded 
districts. Therefore, a county-wide plan or suggestion for each 
county should be carefully worked out in advance by the county 
superintendent and school officers' association in order that all districts 
may be protected. It is a mistake for a superintendent to sit idly by 
and allow certain groups of districts to organize as consolidated dis- 
tricts, leaving some of the adjacent districts situated so that they can 
never consolidate. A definite plan or program should be mapped out 
for every county in the state before reorganization proceeds further, 
and an effort should be made to educate the people of the county to 
an appreciation of the reason and justice of the plan. 

How to Organize 

After making sure that the interests of no districts will be ad- 
versely affected by the organization of the proposed consolidated dis- 




"Wainwrig-ht Consolidated School, Muskog'ee County 
(31) 



trict and that it will not interfere with the county program, the people 
are then ready to organize the district. 

In the first place a preliminary survey should be made to de- 
termine the resources of the districts which it is proposed to con- 
solidate. The valuation and area should be inquired into for the 
purpose of ascertaining whether or not the legal requirements may 
be met and, also, whether or not the valuation is sufficient for the 
needs of such a school as it is desired to establish and whether or not 
the area is greater than practicable in that section of the state. It is 
not recommended that a district be formed with only $200,000 valua- 
tion unless the roads are exceptionally good and the area somewhere 
near the minimum required. Such communities should organize union 
graded schools instead of consolidated schools. Only in exceptional 
cases and under the most favorable of conditions should districts hav- 
ing an aggregate valuation of less than $300,000 unite and assume the 
duties of transportation. 

The legal steps to be taken in perfecting the organization of a 
consolidated district are outlined in Article VII of the Oklahoma 
School Laws, 1917, a copy of which can be secured from the county 
superintendent. It will be noted that such district can be organized 
only by the people in the districts and parts of districts affected. A 
separate petition must be circulated in each district and part of dis- 
trict to be included in the proposed consolidated district, there being 
as many petitions as there are districts and parts of districts seeking 
to consolidate. The petition must be signed by at least one-half of the 
legal voters residing in the district or part of district in which the 




Boone Township Consolidated School, Caddo County 

(32) 




Consolidated Scliool No. 6, Tillman County 

petition is circulated. Legal voters who must be counted are men and 
women twenty-one years of age or above, who have resided in the 
district long enough to be entitled to vote at a school election. It is 
recommended that all voters in the district be secured as signers to 
the petition if possible. 

Each petition must set out in detail the districts and parts of dis- 
tricts proposing to consolidate. The petitions should be prepared by 
the county superintendent on blanks which are furnished by the state 
department of education, as this will insure uniformity. 

The consolidated district must have an area of 25 square miles 
and a taxable valuation of not less than $200,000. An exception is 
made in favor of proposed districts that have $500,000 or more of 
taxable valuation, these districts being allowed to organize even where 
they have less than 25 square miles of area. Before beginning to cir- 
culate the petition, the county superintendent should be consulted to 
find out whether or not the proposed district will meet the requirements 
of the law as to area and valuation. 

The county superintendent will post the necessary notices calling 
an election at some convenient point named by such superintendent as 
soon as the petitions have been received from all of the districts and 
parts of districts proposing to consolidate. A list of legal voters in 
the district with the postoffice addresses should be filed with the county 
superintendent at the time the petition is filed. The list should be 
absolutely correct as notice of the calling of this election is sent by 
mail to each voter in the several districts and parts of districts. 

(33) 




Iiake Valley Consolidated School, WasMta County 

Only one meeting is held. Inasmuch as this meeting is not a meet- 
ing of the people of any one district, but of the people of all the dis- 
tricts and parts of districts proposing to consolidate, it is necessary 
for those present to elect a chairman and secretary when the meeting 
opens. The duties of these officers are defined by the law. If a ma- 
jority of the votes cast are in favor of consolidation, the people at the 
special meeting shall then proceed to elect a director, a clerk, and a 
member of the consolidated district board. Where more than two 
districts consolidate, not more than one member of the board may 
be elected from one of the districts. It is recommended that where the 
voting is by written or printed ballots a voter should cast two ballots, 
one on the organization of the district and another for the three per- 
sons he desires for school board officers in the event the district or- 
ganizes. When more than two districts consolidate not more than one 
school officer can be elected from any one of the districts. These 
ballots should be deposited in separate boxes. Votes on organization 
should be counted first. If the chairman declares that a majority 
voted for the organization of the consolidated district the votes for 
school officers should be counted, first allowing all persons, if any, 
who did not vote for officers to deposit their ballots. 

The secretary of the meeting should certify to the county super- 
intendent the number of votes cast in favor of consolidation, the num- 
ber of votes cast against consolidation, and the names and postoffice 
addresses of persons elected as members of the consolidated school 

(34) 




Canute Consolidated District No. 1, Washita County 



district board. Upon receipt of this report the county superintendent 
will proceed to declare the old common school districts disorganized 
and the consolidated district organized. The newly elected officers 
should take the oath of office and qualify. They are then ready to 
assume all the powers and duties of the school iDoards in the disor- 
ganized common school districts, together with such additional powers 
and duties as the law confers upon school boards in consolidated dis- 
tricts. The county superintendent should make a careful record of all 
proceedings had in the organization of the district. This is important. 

""" Payment of Outstanding Debts 

If any school district uniting to form a consolidated district has 
a warrant or bonded indebtedness, the cash on hand and money de- 
rived from the sale of the school building, site and other property 
belonging to such district must be applied on the payment of such in- 
debtedness. If this is not sufficient to pay the outstanding indebted- 
ness, the county excise board must levy on the property of such original 
common school district each year, a tax sufficient to pay the interest 
and provide a sinking fund for the payment of such indebtedness at 
maturity. The consolidated district does not assume the indebtedness 
of any district or part of district that enters into the combination. If 
the disorganized common school district has money or other property 
on hand after all debts are paid, this money or property belongs to the 
newly created consolidated district. 

(35) 



REPORTS OF TWENTY-SEVEN OKLAHOMA CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS 

For the benefit of persons interested in consolidated schools oper- 
ating in Oklahoma under conditions such as are found in all parts of 
the state, the following brief reports of certain typical districts have 
been prepared from reports on file in the oflfice of State Superintendent 
R. H. Wilson. Inasmuch as all information called for was not given 
by the principal of the school in each case, it has not been possible to 
make these summaries uniform. They are ofifered in this form, how- 
ever, in the belief that such information will be of value to persons 
interested in better schools. 



BROXTON CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 68, Caddo County 

This is a rural district having an area of 40% square miles and a 
taxable valuation of $450,000. The levy for general purposes last 
year was 12 mills and the approved estimate was $5,250. Five wagons 
were run at a total cost of $1,500. This district was organized in 
1913. The wagons were secured for $75 each, being built by a local 
blacksmith. The routes range in length from six to eight miles and 
from 25 to 40 pupils are hauled in each wagon. The drivers cost from 
$35 to $45 per month last year, one of the drivers being advanced 
pupil in the school. Five teachers are employed. There were twelve 
graduates from the eighth grade last year, and one from the high 
school department. The district clerk writes: "The patrons of the 
district sure are proud of its success. Our children have the advan- 
tage of a graded and high school at home." 




Broxton Consolidated School, Caddo County 
(36) 



LIBERTY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 1, Sectuoyali County 
October 23, 1912, two districts situated in the hills and timber of 
Sequoyah County were united in a consolidated district. The area 
of this district is 25 square miles and the valuation is only $65,000. 
As a result of the low valuation, it is necessary to levy 15 mills to 
meet the expense. Three teachers are employed in the district. Two 
wagons furnish transportation. These wagons do not call at the 
homes of the pupils but pick them up at such places as they assemble 
along the route. In this way the expense of transportation is kept 
down. It cost $2,500 to run the school last year, $500 of which amount 
was spent for transportation. It would be impossible to organize a 
consolidated district having such low valuation under the present law. 
The building cost $3,500. 

FOEGAN CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No, 123, Beaver County 
The Forgan District was organized in 1912 by combining four 
districts having a total area of 34 square miles. Only one wagon is 
used in this district. The school house is located in the town of For- 
gan. The district is level. Last year $495 was spent for transporting 
pupils and $7,941.00 was the total cost of running the school. Eight 
teachers were employed to teach the 273 pupils enrolled in the grades 
and high school. Although the district has a large area, the quality 
of the school is such that 18 pupils were transferred from adjoining 
districts for the purpose of attending the grades and six others were 
transferred for high school purposes. The people in this district are 
reported well pleased with their school because by means of it they 
have access to a full four-year high school course. 

RETEOP CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 80, Beckham and Washita Counties 
This is a joint district with building located on the prairie in a 
strictly rural environment. The valuation of the district is $396,000.- 
Three districts having a total area of 32% square miles were united to 
form this district. The district owns six wagons which were built by 
a local blacksmith at an average cost of $110 each. The average cost 
of running these wagons during the year ending June, 1917, was $37 
per month. The length of the routes ranges from six to nine miles, 
and an average of 25 pupils are hauled in each wagon. A total en- 
rollment of 251 pupils in the grades included 14 from other districts, 
and 6 of the 28 high school pupils were residents of adjoining dis- 
tricts. Four teachers were employed in the grades and three in the 
high school department. Total amount spent for running the school 
was $7,034.50, of which $1,800 was spent for transportation. The 
levy for all purposes was 14 mills. This school has a site containing 
four acres, the clerk reports that the people are well satisfied with the 
school and that the attendance of the pupils who are furnished trans- 
portation is better than that of the children who are not transported. 

(37) 




Retrop Consolidated School, Beckham County 

BLUE MOUND CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

Dis'trict No. 74, Beaver County 
Situated on the level prairie in the open country, with an area of 
36 square miles, a taxable valuation of $245,976, and a faculty of only 
three teachers, the Blue Mound school is one of the good consolidated 
schools in the state. The enumeration of the district is only 117, but 
the enrollment in the school last year was 118. The principal of the 
school says : "It seems that the smaller schools look to us as leaders 
in debates, basketball and other athletics as they seem eager to get on 
our schedules. We also have success in getting our pupils accredited 
in larger schools, which goes to show that we are doing efficient work. 
Pupils coming from small district schools do not, as a rule, hold their 
own class standing in our school." A levy of 7.3 mills was all that 
was necessary to provide this excellent school for the country boys and 
girls of the Blue Mound District. 

CARTER CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 50, Beckham County 

The Carter school, located in the prairie section of Beckham 
County, has an area of 25 square miles and a taxable valuation of 
$377,688.00. During the year ending June 30, 1917, the expenses of 
running the school amounted to a total of $4,717.00, of which amount 
$1,365.00 was spent for transportation. The district owns four wagons 
which cost $75 each. Drivers for these wagons were employed for 
$50, $50, $42.50 and $40 per month respectively. Five teachers are 
employed in the grades and one in the high school department. The 
enrollment in the grades was 322, four of whom were transferred to the 
district from adjoining districts, and in the high school there were 45, 

(38) 



eight of whom were transferred from outside the district. One wagon 
covers a route of six and one-fourth miles, the others cover routes 
six miles long. The wagons were built by a local blacksmith. The 
clerk reports that the attitude of the patrons toward the school is 
friendly and the attendance of pupils transported is much more satis- 
factory than those who are not transported. The levy for all purposes 
was 8 mills. , , ! ;*^i 

COUNCIL HILL JOINT CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 1, Muskogee and Mcintosh Counties 
This district having a total area of 25% square miles was formed 
in 1913 from three common school districts. It has a taxable valua- 
tion of $850,000 and makes a levy of 6% mills for general purposes. 
Two wagons covering 11 and 12 miles, respectively, at a cost of $60 
per month for drivers, furnish conveyance for the 46 pupils who are 
provided transportation by the district. Ten pupils who are entitled to 
transportation at the expense of the district voluntarily furnish their 
own conveyances. Five teachers are employed in the school to teach 
the 142 pupils enrolled, four being employed in the grades and one 
in the high school. Six pupils graduated from the eighth grade last 
year and one completed the high school course. The school building 
is located on a three-acre site in a small town. For the year reported 
the school was kept open during a term of 9 months. 




Council Hill Consolidated School, Muskog'ee County 



(39) 



INOLA CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 22, Rogers County 

The taxable valuation of this district is $631,153, and the area is 
35 square miles. The approved estimate last year was $6,586.16, se- 
\cured by a levy of 9 mills in addition to the state and county funds. 
The school is located in a town. The topography of the district is 
partly hilly and partly prairie. Three wagons costing $200 each are 
used to transport pupils to the school. The drivers are paid $40, $45, 
and $49, respectively. The routes are from seven to ten miles long. 
Some of the children are required to walk a short distance to the routes 
laid out by the board, but this is not a great hardship since the wagons 
run on a regular schedule and the children know how to time their 
arrival. Seven teachers taught the 234 pupils who enrolled in the 
school last year. The average salaries paid the grade teachers was 
$50 per month and the two high school teachers were paid salaries that 
averaged $97.50 per month. The eighth grade graduates numbered 12 
last year and three finished the high school course. Of the 34 pupils 
enrolled in the high school, six were from other districts. 
PRESTON CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 
District No. 5, Okmulgee County 

This district, formed by the union of three common school dis- 
tricts, has an area of 29 square miles and a taxable valuation of 
$942,568. This large valuation and comparatively small area makes 
it possible for the district to run five wagons at an average cost of $65 
per month for drivers' salaries and covering routes ranging in length 
from 3y2 to 6 miles. The 285 pupils enrolled in the school were taught 
by 12 teachers. Of these pupils 22 completed the eighth grade work 
during the year and one completed the high school work. One of the 
wagons was driven by an advanced pupil. The school is located in 
a village. It has laboratory, manual training and domestic science 
equipment. A strong rural course can and should be offered in this 
school in order to prepare the rural children for their future work. 

CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, TILLMAN COUNTY 

Three rural districts were combined in 1912 to form Consolidated 
District No. 1. The area of the district is 28 square miles, the valua- 
tion is $391,065 and the levy for all purposes, including bonds, is 11% 
mills. The approved estimate last year was $5,035. Four wagons are 
used to transport pupils, from 35 to 40 pupils being furnished trans- 
portation in each wagon. One advanced pupil and one teacher are 
employed as drivers. Some of the pupils are required to walk one- 
half mile to the route. The routes which were established by the board 
range in length from 4 to 7 miles. The wagons were built by the local 
5.mith at a cost of $125 each. Five teachers are employed. This dis- 
trict furnishes a teacherage, or home for the teachers, and the county 
superintendent who was formerly principal of this school reports that 
the people are well pleased with their school. There are many other 
communities in the state that could maintain a school of this character. 
The school building in this district cost $7,000. 

(40) 




Consolidated Scliool and Teachers' Cottagfe, District No. 1, Tillman County. There 
Are Kow 168 "Teacheragres" in Oklahoma 

DALE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 3, Pottawatomie County 

This district has an area of 23% square miles and a property val- 
uation of $773,685. The school building is located in the village of 
Dale on a site containing two acres. Four wagons are run by the dis- 
trict at a cost of $42.50 to $65 per month for drivers, over routes 
ranging from 7 to 11 miles each. The wagons are owned by tlie school 
district, having been built by a local blacksmith to order according 
to designs prepared by the board. In this way, one-half the usual 
price of school wagons was saved. Six teachers are employed to in- 
struct the 142 pupils enrolled. Two of these teachers devote their 
time to high school work. Teachers are paid average salaries of $59.25 
per month in grades and $87.50 per month in high school. With a 
levy of 8% mills, the school was run 9 months last year. Transporta- 
tion cost was about 30% of the entire amount spent for all purposes. 

EBAM CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 
District No. 3, Okmulgee County 

This district has an area of 28 square miles and an assessed 
property valuation of $567,711. The levy for general purposes last 
year was 9.54 mills, and the approved estimate was $6,000. Four 
wagons were used to transport pupils over routes from 5 to 6 miles in 
length, one of the wagons being driven by an advanced pupil. Sal- 
aries of drivers range from $45 to $60 per month. Four teachers are 
employed, three in the grades and one in the high school. The en- 
rollment in the school was 163, which represents 84% of the educable 
children living in the district. As the high school department is im- 
proved, the percentage of enumerated persons enrolled in the school 
will, no doubt, be increased very much. The principal reports that 

(41) 




Hitchcock Consolidated School, Blaine County 



the Board of Education is considering the matter of improving the 
equipment of the school so as to make it possible for it to serve the 
community better than it has ever done. 

HITCHCOCK CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No, 29, Blaine County- 
Six common school districts were combined to make this consoli- 
dated district having an area of 54 square miles and an assessed valua- 
tion of $827,304. The district is located in the rough, or hilly part of 
Blaine County and the school is situated in the town of Hitchcock. 
The approved estimate for 1916-17 was $6,050, this amount being 
raised with a general fund levy of 6.4 mills, in addition to state and 
county school apportionments. Five wagons are used to transport 
pupils over routes 6 and 7 miles long. Some of the children are re- 
quired to walk not more than 1 mile to points on the route established 
by the board. No child is required to leave home before 7 :30 a. m., 
and no child reaches home later than 5 in the afternoon. Four wagons 
are driven by advanced pupils. The average cost of the 5 wagons for 
drivers was $40 per month during 1916-17. The school site consists 
of. 4 acres. Almost one-half of the high school enrolment was drawn 
from adjoining districts and the average daily attendance in the high 
school was exceptionally high. Fifteen pupils completed the eighth 
grade in this district last year and 5 graduated from the high school 
course. The enrollment in all grades was 217. The buildings, ground 
and equipment cost the district approximately $25,000. 

(42) 



EUREKA CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 2, Payne County 

This district was organized in 1911 by uniting four districts con- 
taining an aggregate area of 30 square miles and a taxable valuation 
of $641,618. Six wagons are used to furnish transportation for the 
pupils in the district. Drivers for these wagons are secured at an 
average cost of $40 per month each. The routes range from 5 to 6 
miles in length. 

This school is located on a site containing 5 acres and situated 
in a strictly rural community. Some high school work is done. Slightly 
more than half of the cost of the school last year was spent for trans- 
portation,, this being an unusual condition. Only four teachers were 
employed to teach the 183 pupils enrolled. A levy of 4.8 mills was 
sufficient to run the school last year. A larger levy should be made 
and the high school work of the district should be encouraged. 



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Consolidated School No. 5, Tillman County 



LOVELAND CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 5, Tillman County 
During the spring of 1916, 5 common school districts having a 
total area of 36 square miles, consolidated about the little village of 
Loveland. The taxable valuation of this district was $550,000 during 
the fiscal year ending June, 1917, and a levy of 12^/^ mills produced, 
together with the other revenue of the district an approved estimate 
of $6,500. Five wagons were purchased, 4 at $250 each and 1 for 
$100. Three drivers are secured for $50 each per month, one for 
$40 and one for $65, according to the routes which are from 5 to 7^ 
miles long. Five teachers are employed to teach the 221 pupils en- 
rolled. The school site consists of 5 acres. The principal of the school 
owns his home near the building, so it is not necessary at present for 
the district to build a teachers' cottage. The principal of the school 

(43) 



reports that practically all of those who formerly opposed the organi- 
zation of the district are now warm supporters of the consolidated 
system. I'he school building cost $11,000. 

McLOUD CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 
District No. 1, Pottawatomie County 
This district was organized in 1911 before the law required an 
area of 25 square miles. It is one of the small consolidated districts, 
having an area of only 15 square miles. The taxable valuation of the 
district is $535,000 and a levy of 5 mills is sufficient for general pur- 
poses. Only one wagon is used to transport about 25 pupils who live 

2 miles or more from the school. This wagon which is owned by the 
district, covers a route 8 miles long at a cost of $48 per month for 
driver's salary. The school building is located on a site of 5 acres, 

3 acres being used as a demonstration farm. The principal of the school 
reports that the enumeration of scholastics in the district last year was 
250, while the enrolment in the school was 269. Seven teachers are 
employed to teach these pupils, three of the teachers being employed 
in the high school. Last year 12 pupils finished the eighth grade course 
and 7 graduated from the four-year high school course offered in the 
school. 

ROCKY HILL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 
District No. 4, Okmulgee County 

The general topography of this district is hilly and the school is 
located in a rural environment. The taxable valuation is $331,831 and 
the area is 34 square miles. Five wagons are used to transport pupils, 
from 9 to 20 pupils being hauled in each wagon. The drivers are paid 
$65 per month. The routes are from 7 to 10 miles long. It is prob- 
able that the board sets a fixed price, instead of advertising for bids 
for drivers. 

The wagons follow the section lines and children living off the 
road meet the wagons at the nearest point on the established route. 
Only three teachers are employed in this school and no high school 
work was attempted in the district last year. One of the teachers also 
drives a wagon. The principal reports that pupils living at a distance 
are more regular in attendance than those who live only a short dis- 
tance from the school house and who walk. "The conduct of the 
children on the wagons under supersivion of drivers was above re- 
proach, while in a few cases children who walked to and from school 
not only fought but were guilty of worse conduct. When these same 
children were put on wagons they gave no further trouble." 

NINNEKAH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 51, Grady County 

Located in the town of Ninnekah is one of the best of the many 

good consolidated schools in this state. The area of the district is 

approximately 40 square miles and the taxable valuation is $821,000. 

A levy of 10 mills for general purposes was made to raise, with other 

(44) 




Ninuekah Consolidated School, Grady County 

revenues, $10,205 during the fiscal year ending June, 1917. The dis- 
trict owns 6 wagons and employs drivers for $60 per month each. 
Three advanced pupils are employed as drivers. The routes are ap- 
proximately 9 miles in length, but no child is in the wagon longer than 
1% hours. Some of the children are required to walk from one-fourth 
to one-half mile to the route along which the wagon passes. The en- 
rollment in the school during the year was 392 ; of these 14 graduated 
from the eighth grade and 6 graduated from the high school depart- 
ment. Nine teachers are employed. There are 3 acres in the school 
site. The high valuation in this district makes it possible, despite the 
size, to maintain as good a school as the best. The building cost 
$10,000. This district was organized as a large district 10 years ago 
by State Superintendent Wilson who was then County Superintendent 
of Grady County. I^ater the territory was divided into three districts 
and new school houses were built, but before the first coat of paint was 
worn off these three districts were consolidated by a vote of the people. 
MORRIS CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 
District No. 1, Okmulgee County 
This is a wealthy district formed in 1913 by the union of 5 dis- 
tricts. It has a taxable valuation of $1,500,000 and an area of only 
26% square miles. Five wagons are used to transport the pupils. These 
wagons were purchased at a cost of $190 each. Drivers are paid $60 
per month and an average of 20 pupils is carried in each wagon. The 
wagons run on regular schedule and along routes fixed by the board, 
so that some the children are required to walk from their homes to the 
route. Eighteen teachers were employed last year to teach 669 pupils 
that enrolled in the school. There were 23 graduates from the eighth 
grade and 2 graduates from the high school. The school house is 
located in the town of Morris on a site of 3 acres. 

(45) 



AMBER CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 
District No, 28, Grady County 

This is a large district in area, valuation and general excellence. 
It was formed from 5 districts, has an area of 56^/^ square miles, and a 
valuation of $1,041,203. A tax levy of 6.3 mills during 1916-17, added 
to state and county apportionments of school funds, produced a total 
revenue of $10,185, which was sufficient to pay 8 teachers, 6 drivers 
and the incidental expenses. The district owns the wagons. The 
school site includes 5 acres. The course of study offered in the school 
tends to become more practical every year. The principal of this 
school was recently elected superintendent of the Guthrie city schools. 
A number of our consolidated schools have superintendents who are 
qualified to fill the best city positions in the state and in such districts 
the farmers' children have better educational advantages than city chil- 
dren enjoy. State Superintendent R. H. Wilson was County Superin- 
tendent of Grady County at the time the districts were organized. He 




Amljer Consolidated School, Grady County 

desired to create a large district in this section, but the people insisted 
upon having 5 small districts instead. The 5 districts were organized 
in accordance with this demand, but after they had been conducted 
several years the people petitioned the county superintendent to call an 
election for consolidation. They now have a strong rural high school 
and are satisfied. Their building cost $12,000 and is modern in every 
respect. 

WILSON CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 2, Tillman County 

This district on the level prairies of Tillman County was formed 
by the union of four common school districts having a total area of 36 
square miles and a present valuation of $686,401. A levy of 7.2 mills 
is sufficient to pay the entire expense of the school. Last year $5,765 

(46) 



was the amount of the approved estimate. From this amount 5 teach- 
ers and 5 drivers were paid, the drivers receiving monthly salaries of 
$50. The routes range from 7 to 7>^ miles in length. Three of the 
wagons were driven by advanced pupils. The enrollment in the high 
school last year was 34, but inasmuch as 26 of the pupils completed 
the eighth grade work, the high school enrollment will be larger this 
year. This school serves a rural community, has a site of 5 acres, 
upon which is built a home for the teachers in addition to the regular 
school buildings. The clerk of the district writes as follows "I find 
that we have better teachers to apply for positions in our school, because 
we have our pupils classified, enabling the teacher qualified for 
primary work to devote her energy to the smaller pupils, and so on 
for the"^ other grades." The old frame buildings of the 4 districts were 
moved to the center of the consolidated district at the time it organ- 
ized and they are still used. By this means the district has been saved 
the expense of erecting a new building. 

DRIFTWOOD CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 2, Alfalfa County- 
Five teachers are employed in this school, one teaching the first, 
second and third grades, another the fourth, fifth and sixth grades, 
while the other three teachers instruct the seventh and eighth and high 
school classes. Each grade below the seventh recites two hours or 
more each day, while the grades from the seventh up have more time 
for recitation. This is made possible by alternation and combination 
of work in the high school department. 

The classes are large enough to be interesting to teachers and 
pupils alike. The enrollment by grades is as follows : Primary, 15 ; 
first, 11 ; second, 10 ; third, 8 ; fourth, 10 ; fifth, 8 ; sixth, 5 ; seventh, 8 ; 
eighth, 7; ninth, 12; tenth, 13; eleventh, 8; twelfth, 7; total, 123, of 
which number 70 are boys and 53 girls. 

















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Driftwood Consolidated Scliool, Alfalfa County 

(47) 



No expensive school plant has been provided in this district. 
Transportation is furnished by 3 wagons and a Ford truck. One of 
the wagons was purchasedd from the manufacturers and the other two 
are of home manufacture. The Ford truck covers a route 10% miles 
long in one hour. It has hauled 25 pupils at one time and makes the 
trip on 2% gallons of gasoline per day. It cost about $710 completely 
equipped for hauling children. The drivers are paid $40, $45, $45 and 
$65, respectively during the 1917-18 term of school. One-third of the 
Ipupils, 40, are in the high school department and 8 of these live in 
adjoining districts. 

CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 3, TILLMAN COUNTY 

This district is located in a rural community on the level prairie, 
has 26 square miles of area, a valuation of $663,775 upon which a tax 
levy of 2.2 mills was levied last year, uses 3 wagons to transport pupils 
and employs 3 teachers. The district owns the wagon bodies but not 
the running gears. From 25 to 35 pupils are hauled in the wagons 
over routes of 6 and 7-% miles. Several of the pupils walk as far as 
three-fourths of a mile to the routes laid out by the board. It cost 
$1,120 to transport pupils, 2 of the drivers being paid $50 per month 
and the other one $40. The school site consists of 3 acres. The gen- 
eral attitude of the patrons toward the school is favorable. As in 
the case of other districts, the attendance of transported pupils is more 
regular than that of the pupils who are not transported. The old dis- 
trict school buildings were moved to the center of the consolidated 
district where they are still used. 

COP AN CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 4, Washington County 

This district has an areea of about 30 square miles and a valuation 

of $4,522,056. A levy of 5.9 mills produced a revenue of $28,000 

which was sufficient to enable the board of the district to employ a 

man who had served as president of one of the Oklahoma State Normal 




&Ei:km 




Copan Consolidated School; Heating- Plant in Center; Teacherage to Be Built Soon 

(48) 



schools, and teachers meeting all the requirements of the North Cen- 
tral Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Five wagons are 
used to transport the pupils. No child is required to remain in the 
wagon longer than 80 minutes. During the school year 1916-17, there 
were 420 pupils enrolled in the school, 61 of whom were in the high 
school department. Ten students graduated from the high school and 
22r graduated from the eighth grade during May, 1917. Sixteen teach- 
ers are employed. The large valuation due to the location of an oil 
tank farm within the district places the school in a class by itself 
among the consolidated districts in the state and makes it possible for 
the school to own and operate a complete school plant, consisting of 
two modern school buildings, a heating plant, gymnasium and well 
equipped laboratories. A home for the janitor is provided by the 

district. 

MARSHALL CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No. 3, Garfield and Logan Counties 
During June, 1912, two districts consisting of 16 square miles of 
territory located in Logan and Garfield Counties united to form a con- 
solidated school district. The approved estimate for this district dur- 
ing the fiscal year closing June, 1917, was $7,760. This was raised by 
a 13-mill levy. Two wagons are used to transport pupils, the drivers 
costing $55 and $30 per month, respectively. One wagon covers a route 
7 miles in length, the other travels only 2}i miles. No child walks 
farther than one-fourth mile to get to the wagon. The wagons were 
bought from the manufacturers for $200 each. The enumeration of 
the district is 224 but the enrollment in the school last year was 242, 
showing that the school has considerable drawing power. The high 







^^^^^ .'->' ''^^^V^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 








: • y. ■ ^/»^.g^ - ';~' .\:,^^^- .,.,__ 




m 








-'- . ""■ ~ta * i Ft 



Consolidated School at Marshall, G-arfield and I^ogran Counties 

(49) 



school enrollment was 74. This can be made one of the strongest of 
the consolidated districts in the state, by enlarging its area to include 
all the territory now served by the school. 

QUAY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

Joint Consolidated District No. 1, Payne and Pawnee Counties 
This district, organized in 1903, is probably the oldest consolidated 
district in Oklahoma. The school is located in the village of Quay. 
The area of the district is only 17 square miles, but the valuation is 
$564,019. A levy of 6.1 mills is sufficient to pay the cost of running 
4 wagons, employing 5 teachers, and paying all incidental expenses. 
The children meet the wagons on routes established by the board. 
The enrollment in the school year was 183, 6 of whom were trans- 
ferred from other districts. Eight pupils completed the eighth grade 
work last year. This district, having a large valuation and a small 
area, can be made one of the strong schools in the state. 

BXJRLINGTON CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

District No, 1, Alfalfa County- 
Four teachers are employed in this school, 3 in the grades and one 
in the high school. Only two years of high school work is being of- 
fered this year, there being 8 pupils in the ninth, one in the tenth and 

3 doing special work. One hundred and twenty-seven pupils are en- 
rolled in the school. One teacher instructs the primary, first and sec- 
ond grades; another the third, fourth and fifth grades, and another 
the sixth, seventh and eighth grades. All of the pupils who completed 
the eighth grade work in this school last year are now enrolled in the 
high school. Nine of the 14 high school pupils live outside the district, 

4 of them pay tuition and the other 5 have been regularly transferred 
so that the home districts pay their tuition for them. 

Transportation is furnished by two home-made wagons, one Ford 




Burlington Consolidated School, Alfalfa County 
(50) 



truck and one Ford touring car, the drivers of which receive a uniform 
monthly salary of $45 each. The Ford truck covers a route 6 miles 
long in 40 or 50 minutes each day. The Ford touring car makes two 
trips in the forenoon and two in the afternoon. 

The district should increase its area and strive to build a strong 
high school to meet the needs of the boys and girls in that community. 
The enrollment in the high school furnishes evidence of the fact that 
the people in adjoining districts appreciate this school. They should 
have a proprietary interest in it. 



INTERESTING COMPARISONS 

The following facts are gleaned from the Biennial Report of the 

State Superintendent, 1916 : 

Independent Eural Consolidated 

Districts Districts Districts 

Enrollment of Persons Enumerated 93% 83% 97% 

Average Daily Attendance 

Based on Enumeration 71% 47% 64% 

Average Daily Attendance 

Based on Enrolment 75% 57% 66% 

Pupils Doing Work in the 

High School Department 14% yg% 10% 

Average Length of 

School Term in Days 180 138 168 



The following illustrates in an interesting manner the monetary 
value of education such as is provided in the high school departments 
of the consolidated schools of Oklahoma. 

A PROBLEM FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL BOY 

Find the Value of a Day in School? 
Solution : 

1. The average educated man earns per year $1,000, in 40 years he 
would earn $40,000. 

3, The average uneducated man earns $450, in 40 years he would 
earn $18,000. 

3. The value of the first man's education equals the difference in the 

earning, or $32,000. 

4. Time required to secure an education is 13 years of 180 days each, 

or 3160 days. 

33,000-^3160=10 

Therefore each day in school is worth more than $10.00. 

(51) 



THE VALUE OF AN EDUCATION TO THE FARMER 

III a recent survey it was found that: 

Three hundred and ninety-eight farmers had only district school 
education. Their labor incomes per year averaged $318.00. 

One hundred and sixty-five farmers had high school education. 
Their labor incomes per year averaged $622.00. 

Ten farmers had more than high school education. Their labor 
incomes per year averaged $847.00. 

The man with the college education on the farm had a net profit 
for his labor of $225.00 per year more than the high school man, and 
$529.00 per year more than the district school man. 




Brinkman Consolidated School, Greer County 



(52) 



WHAT IS MY BOY WORTH? 

Eyes $ 4,000 

Ears - 4,000 

Arms 2,000 

Hands 1,000 

Legs 2,000 



$13,000 
The above figures are taken from insurance policies. 

1,000,000 Boys and Girls $13,000,000,000 

Taxable Property $4,000,000,000 

HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION PAYS 
Yearly Income 



High School 
Training 




Age 




No High School 
Training 


In High School 




14 


■ 


$200 


In High School 


• 


16 


■ 


250 


$ 500 


■■ 


18 


■1 


350 


750 


^H 


20 


^m 


470 


1,000 


^^m 


22 


■■ 


575 


1,150 


wm^ 


24 


1^ 


GOO 


1,550 


■H^ 


25 


■■ 


688 



i7,337 Total $5,112 

Boy with high school training Wages $3.50 per day 

Boy with no high school training Wages $1.50 per day 



(53) 



Chapter III. 



UNION GRADED SCHOOLS 

There are many communities in Oklahoma in which we would not 
advise consolidation because of the topography of the country, the 
condition of the roads and the low valuation of taxable property. 
Sometimes the necessary area of 25 square miles cannot be secured. But 
these communities are sometimes rich in the number and quality of 
children who are entitled to school privileges equal to those provided 
for the children living in more prosperous districts. To supply their 
educational needs by providing them with high school training, the 
Legislature has wisely passed a law making it possible to organize 
union graded schools. This type of school is not peculiar to Oklahoma, 
but is similar to the township high schools found in many other states 
where conditions are like those in this state. 

Two or more districts may organize as a union graded district. 
By this organization the common school districts are merged into one 
union graded district having one school board that controls all the 
schools in the district. While the common school districts lose their 
corporate existence, the school houses in those districts remain for the 
benefit of all pupils below the seventh grade. The union graded dis- 
trict board can designate the school house in which the seventh, eighth, 
and high school grades shall be taught and these grades cannot be 
taught in any other school house in the district. These higher grades 
may be taught in one of the original buildings or a new building may 
be built for them on a site selected by the people. The little schools 
now existing cannot be closed by the union graded district board, ex- 
cept when said board has been authorized to do so by the people living 
in the district that formerly maintained the school in that building. 

It is not claimed that the union graded school is as desirable or as 
efficient as the consolidated school, because it does not permit of as 
close gradation of the pupils in the first six grades. The classes in the 
little outlying, or wing schools, are smaller than in the consolidated 
school, and, consequently, there is less rivalry or competition. The 
teacher having more grades to teach cannot specialize in these lower 
grades so well as the teachers in the consolidated school. But the 
pupils from the seventh grade up have all the advantages of the con- 
solidated school, except transportation, while their younger brothers 
and sisters secure these advantages only in part. The union graded 
school district is, however, a great improvement over the present small 
district with respect to all grades taught. The seventh and eighth 
grades being removed from the outlying schools, the teacher has more 
time to devote to the first six grades. When we consider the fact that 

(54) 



the seventh and eighth grades have a greater number of studies than 
any other two grades in the common school and they consume more 
than one-third of the teacher's time, we can appreciate the advantage 
gained by the other grades in having these seventh and eighth grade 
pupils removed from the little district school and the time gained by 
such removal distributed among the lower grades. The problem of 
discipline is reduced by at least one-half. The seventh and eighth 
grades profit equally as much by becoming members of larger classes 
where there is more competition and interest, since, during these years, 
the pupils from the entire union graded district are thrown together in 
the same classes. There is an additional advantage in having these 
grades come into direct personal contact with the pupils in the high 




TTnion Hig-h School, aarmou County 

school department, serving to bridge the gap between the common 
school and the high school. Many of our best city schools are now 
reorganizing their gradation in such a way as to place the seventh and 
eighth grade pupils in a junior high school with the ninth grade, in 
order to tie the common school and high school work together just as 
it is done in the union graded school. 

Some teachers are especially adapted to and trained for primary 
work, others for teaching the higher grades, while very few can do 
full justice to all grades. The Board in the union graded district should 
select teachers adapted to and prepared for the work assigned them. 
The teacher or principal of the higher grades, being also principal of 
the outlying schools, furnishes closer supervision than is now possible 
in the rural schools. 

(55) 



Because of the closer gradation, each pupil receives more time and 
attention from the teacher and, as a result, can finish the couse of 
study from two to four years earlier than under the present small 
district system. This gain in time should be considered as the greatest 
economy that can be practiced by a district. Inasmuch as the pupils 
who finish the common school grades in the rural school average from 
two to three years older than pupils who complete the same course in 
the graded schools, it frequently happens that these pupils enter the 
graded schools and are discouraged by being placed in classes with 
children much younger than they. Their embarrassment leads them 
frequently to drop out of school without getting the high school train- 
ing which they need. 

Inasmuch as no transportation is furnished by a union graded 
district, there are many places in the state where such districts can 
be organized and operated at a cost actually less than the present cost 
of operating the district schools. There are few places in the state 
where the cost of a union graded school need be greater than the cost 
of the present ungraded schools, especially when considered in con- 
nection with the transfer law. 

As a general rule, a union graded district should not be larger 
than a congressional township — thirty-six square miles. The district 
should be in the form of a square and the high school building should 
be located on a site containing at least five acres of ground situated as 
near the center of the district as possible. Where the enrolment in 
the lower grades of the outlying schools is large, it is recommended 
that a room be set aside at the central building for the first six grades 
and that the union graded school district board permit children living 
near that school house to attend there together with such smaller chil- 
dren as wish to attend that school, in order to be with their older 
brothers and sisters who are enrolled in the upper grades. Under 
such an arrangement, an extra teacher for these lower grades at the 
central building will be necessary, but such extra teacher will make it 
unnecessary to employ more than one teacher in any one of the outly- 
ing schools. In this way, the congestion in the one-room schools can 
be relieved to the advantage of all concerned. 

This type of school is deservedly popular, because it makes it 
possible for practically every community that is not able to provide 
a consolidated school to maintain a good high school within reach of all 
the children. Reports from county superintendents show that five 
union graded schools were organized in Oklahoma during the spring 
and summer of 1917 and many other communities are known to be 
interested in a reorganization on this plan at this time. For such com- 
munities, the following suggestions are offered : 

The union graded district can be formed only by a vote of the 
people and, since it is a matter of such vital concern to the children, no 
one should form a decided opinion as to the merits or demerits of the 
school until after a thorough investigation has been made. We owe 
at least that much consideration to our children. It is best to begin by 

(56) 



making a careful survey of the schools in the home district and in 
those adjoining. Since cost of operation is the first objection that 
will be raised by the uninformed, it will be well to ascertain how much 
it is costing to maintain the district schools at present. This cost 
should include the amount spent for the tuition of pupils that have been 
transferred. It will be interesting to note how much it now costs per 
child each month. If no children have completed the common school 
course of study in the district during the past three or four years, find 
out if possible why such is the case. Ascertain the number of pupils 
who have completed the course of study, secured their common school 
diplomas and entered a high school; also find out how many have 
graduated from the common school course in the district during re- 
cent years and failed to enter a high school. Compare the enrollment 
and average daily attendance at the school with the enumeration of the 
district to see if the school has a strong drawing and holding power. 
Examine into the qualifications of teachers that have been employed 
in the district during recent years. Ascertain the valuation of the 
several districts. Write to the County Superintendent of a county in 
which there are union graded districts and secure the names of the 
officers of such districts, then write to these officers for information 
concerning the operation, cost and success of their schools, if they are 
located so far away that a personal visit and inspection is impracti- 
cable. Secure a copy of the latest issue of the school law and study 
carefully the sections relating to union graded schools. After having 
become thoroughly familiar with the subject, one can begin a sys- 
tematic campaign for reorganization, discussing the matter in the 
community meetings, at public sales, at lodge meetings and wherever 
several voters are gathered together. Special meetings may be called 
in the district and when desired a representative of the State Depart- 
ment of Education can be secured to spend some time in the com- 
munity conferring with the people, or addressing them in public 
meetings. 

No combination of districts should be made that will interfere 
with the broad, county- wide plan of reorganization as the right of all 
districts should be safeguarded. See suggestions for county-wide 
program in preceding chapter. 

Article VIII of the School Laws of Oklahoma, 1917, gives in de- 
tail the legal procedure to be followed in organizing a union graded 
school district. The procedure as outlined should be followed closely. 
Only entire districts can enter into the organization of union graded 
districts. A separate petition must be circulated in each of the dis- 
tricts proposing to form the union graded district. The petition must 
be signed by at least one -third of the qualified voters in the district in 
which it is circulated, but everyone in the district should be given an 
opportunity to sign the petition. Upon receipt of the petition from the 
several districts,the County Superintendent calls a meeting of the voters 
at some convenient place. The people at the meeting choose a chairman 
and secretary and proceed to vote on two propositions : First, whether 

(57) 



or not the union graded district shall be organized ; Second, they shall 
vote for a director, clerk and member of the Board, no two of whom 
shall be residents of the same common school district proposing to be 
incorporated in the union graded district where more than two dis- 
tricts are attempting to unite. These two propositions must be voted 
on at the same time and a person who votes against the organization 
of the union graded district should vote for three members of the 
Board. Of course, the Board cannot assume its duties as directors of 
the union graded district unless a majority of votes cast are in favor 
of organizing the union graded district. If a majority of those voting 
at the meeting vote in favor of organizing the union graded district, 
the secretary of the meeting shall certify to the County Superintendent 
the number of votes cast in favor of the organization, the number 
cast against the organization, and the names of the persons elected 
as director, clerk, and members, together with their addresses. The 
County Superintendent will then proceed to declare the common school 
districts disorganized and the union graded district organized. 

It is very important that the County Superintendent make a care- 
ful record of all steps taken in the organization of this district, such to 
become a permanent part of the official records of the county. 

INDEBTEDNESS 

If any school district uniting to form a union graded school dis- 
trict shall have at the time of its disorganization a legal warrant or 
bonded indebtedness, such shall remain a charge against the property 
of such disorganized district to be paid by a sinking fund levy on the 
property in such disorganized original common school district. Inas- 
much as the school houses in the union graded district are not 
abandoned, the property cannot be sold and applied on the payment of 
the indebtedness of the several common school districts, and the union 
graded district does not assume the indebtedness of any district. 

TRANSPORTATION 

The union graded district Board cannot furnish transportation, 
except when authorized to do so by 60 per cent of the legal voters 
living in the district. 

UNION DISTRICTS IN OKLAHOMA 

Several of the districts reported to the State Superintendent as 
consolidated schools are found upon investigation to be simply union 
graded schools, but the number of such is not known definitely as this 

time. 

FORT TOWSON 

The Fort Towson union graded school district in Choctaw County 
has an area of approximately 32 square miles, and a taxable valuation 
of $711,343.00. In the central school at Fort Towson, eleven teachers 
are employed to teach twelve grades. Three wing schools, the Doaks- 
ville school, located two miles northwest, the Greenwood school, locat- 
ed two and one-half miles northeast, and the Dunn school, located two 
and one-half miles south of Fort Towson, are maintained for pupils in 

(58) 




Fort Towson TTnion Graded School District, Choctaw County 



the first six grades. All pupils in the seventh, eighth and high school 
grades are required to attend the central school at Fort Towson, but 
the district does not furnish transportation for these pupils. A four- 
year high school course is offered in the union graded school. Last 

59) 



year there were fifteen graduates from the eighth grade and three 
from the high school department. 

The northeast part of this district is rough and hilly, with con- 
siderable timber, the central part is good, level land, and the south part 
is broken by creeks, draws, etc. There is also considerable heavy 
timber in the southern part of the district. The main line roads east 
and west and north and south from Fort Towson are good, but the 
laterals are only fair. At present, transportation of pupils is hardly 
feasible for this district and the union graded school is probably the 
best under the circumstances. The principal reports that the average 
daily attendance for the town school is 90%, for the rural, or wing 
schools, 78%. The number retained and not promoted in the wing 
schools is 40% greater than retained pupils in the town school. 

3VLA.HEW 

The Mahew school is a union graded district in Choctaw County 
that has been reported heretofore as a consolidated district. A large 
central brick building, containing four rooms, is available for use as a 
union graded school, and two one-room wing schools are maintained 
for the first six grades in the west and east ends of the district. The 
writer visited this district during the summer while school was in ses- 
sion and found two teachers employed at the central school teaching 
the first eight grades and one teacher in each of the two wing schools 
teaching the first six grades. The large central brick building is located 
in the country, there being no town in the Mahew district. Formerly 
there was a teacherage in connection with this building but it burned. 




Mahew Union Graded School, Choctaw County 

(60) 



NORGB 

The following letter describes the organization of the first union 
graded district in Grady County. Superintendent Shepard is entitled 
to the credit for bringing about the organization of this district with 
such unparalleled success: 

Chickaslia, Okla., 

October 27, 1917. 
Mr. E. A. Duke, 

Oklahoma City, Okla. 
Dear Mr. Duke: 

Grady County organzied her first Union Graded School during June, 1917. 
Consolidation had been tried in this part of the county but had been unani- 
mously voted down. We held three meetings, one in each of the three districts 
that organized the Union Graded District. We got up our petitions in two 
days and had our election ten days after the third meeting. More than three- 
fourths of the voters in the district attended the meeting and voted unani- 
mously for organizing the union graded school. The next step taken up was 
the location of the school house, only one site being suggested and that voted 
for unanimously. Three members of the Board were named, one from each 
district, and they were elected without other nominations. We proceeded 
then at the meeting to get up our petition for the bond issue. It was first 
suggested that we build a $5,000.00 building. One farmer got up and said 
that he was not in favor of a $5,000.00 bond issue and offered as a substitute 
to the motion that a $10,000.00 bond issue be floated for the purpose of build- 
ing and equipping the l3uilding. This was carried unanimously. Ten days 
later we held our bond election and it carried unanimously. 

I think the reason we were so successful in this organization was due to 
the fact that we got all the people out to this meeting and discussed the Union 
Graded District from every angle — points for it and points against it. Owing 
to the topography of the district,- a union gTaded school is the best suited to 
them, because of the hills and sand, transportation is almost impossible. 
I went over these districts before we had our meeting and picked out a loca- 
tion for the school house, and located it just a mile and a half from each of the 
other three buildings. We purchased eleven acres of good land and have one 
of the most modern school houses for the money that I have ever seen. We 
looked over plans of various school buildings throughout the United States 
and secured one of the best architects that could be had to make our plans. 

Therefore, we have a building that will meet the needs of the people as 
a community center and a modern, practical high school for the boys and girls 
of that community. This building has a large study hall, an auditorium and a 
gymnasium. It has five class rooms and a library adjoining the study hall. 
Domestic Science and Manual Training rooms are fully equipped. This year 
we will put into this building about $3,000.00 worth of additional equipment. 
Departmental work is done throughout the school. The school building is built 
on the unit plan, in order that we may add to it in future years without any 
trouble whatever. The building is lighted in the most modern way, has mod- 
ern heating plant and water supply and sanitary toilets, it also has a six-room 
teacherage, all teachers being required to live in this building, the principal 
of the school in charge. The ground will be used for agricultural purposes, 
where demonstration work will be done for the district. The Board has agreed 
to hire an agriculturist for the next year, who will be the agent for this dis- 
trict twelve months out of the year. This building is located twelve miles 
west of Chickasha and is the only high school in that section of the county, 
or the east side of Caddo County. The enrolment for this year is 107, and we 
have six teachers in the district. 

I visited these schools a few days ago and was surprised to find the in- 
terest manifested by the children in the wing schools, everyone doing his 

(61) 




TTniou Hlg'h School in Center. Three Schools for First Six Grades Top anS 
Bottom. Vuiou Graded District No. 1, Grady County 



best and looking forward to the time when he will reach the grade that will 
promote him to the new building. I was also very much surprised and gratified 
to see the work that was being done by the teachers in the wing buildings. 
They have six grades and have the work so classified and the programs ar- 
ranged in such manner that the school really looks like a school. Teachers 
have time for recitations and individual work. These classes do not require 
such long recitations and the time is not taken up with the recitation from 
the seventh and eighth grade pupils. The Board was kind enough to take my 
suggestion in hiring teachers, so all teachers doing work in this school are 
holders of first grade county certificates or are Normal School graduates. The 
principal receives $1,200.00 a year for the first year; the other teachers in the 
high school receive $75.00 per month. 

The area of the school site is eleven acres. The value of the new build- 
ing is $8,500.00. "We have arranged with the University to furnish us a land- 
scape man to lay this ground off as it should be. We hope and believe we are 
safe in saying that we have one of the most practical schools in this state, 
from every standpoint. You would be surprised to see the interest manifested 
by the patrons of this school. I have had one called meeting there since the 
school started and the house was packed. 

I hope that you will arrange to spend a day or two in this school and see 
the work that is being done and how it is conducted, that you may go out 
over the state and tell 'other people how it is being done, in order that they 
may do something for their boys and girls. You cannot appreciate this school 
in the least without having visited it and observed how it is conducted. I 
expect to make this school purely and simply a country high school. 

With best wishes, I am 

Very truly yours, 

M. H. SHEPAED, 
County Superintendent. 

STATE AID 

The union graded schools are entitled to state aid when they meet 
the requirements of the law. 



(63) 



Chapter IV. 



TEANSPORTATION OF PUPILS 

The transportation of pupils to and from school at the expense 
of the district is a simple form of community co-operation. There 
are many townships in Oklahoma containing four school houses serv- 
ing districts averaging nine square miles in area and enrolling pupils 
from the first to the eighth grade inclusive. The majority of the 
pupils who attend walk to and from these little schools, but in many 
of the districts there are several who, because of the distance of their 
homes from the district school house, or on account of the age of the 
pupils, find it necessary to drive. In some cases where the children 
are young, it becomes necessary for the father or mother to drive with 
the children to school each morning and return for them in the after- 
noon. As a result, it frequently happens that the services of more 
adults and teams are required to transport a few children to and from 
the little one-room schools in a township than would be required to 
transport all of the children to a large central well graded school in 
the same township. This is due to absence of co-operation. 

To be entirely efficient and thoroughly democratic, the school 
must touch the lives of all scholastics in the district alike, affording 
equal opportunities to all. If the parent whose home is distant from 
the school house cannot spare his children a horse to be used in driving 
to and from school, their attendance will be irregular and unsatisfac- 
tory to themselves and to the school, inasmuch as their classmates must 




Wasted Horsepower — Only Eig-hteeu Pupils are Enrolled in This One-room Scliool. 
Two Horses Could Transport Them to a G-ood Consolidated School 

(64) 



have their progress impeded by the slower members of the class. This 
results in decreased efficiency on the part of the little school. 

Certain farms in the community lose in efficiency because the 
children use the horses that are badly needed and parents must spend a 
part of each school day getting their children to and from the school. 
This loss of horse power and man power results in decreased produc- 
tion, which is reflected in the taxable valuation of property in the 
school district, as well as in the lives and affairs of the parents and 
children themselves. 

Co-operation, in the form of transportation of pupils at public 
expense, releases for farm service the excess horse power now em- 
ployed in hauling children to school, relieves the parent of the neces- 
sity of spending valuable time on the road between the home and school 
house, makes it possible for the school to influence the life of each 
child in the district to the same extent and thus makes of the school 
a truly efficient and democratic institution. Like other forms of co- 
operation through the division of labor, it proves more economical in 
the end than the individualistic plan. 

The United States Commissioner of Education estimates the num- 
ber of consolidated schools in the nation at 7,500, a total greater than 
all the school districts of Oklahoma. There are no figures available 
to show the total area of consolidated territory in the United States, 
but inasmuch as districts of this type are larger than the ordinary dis- 
tricts, it is safe to assume that this area is at least three times as great 
as the area of our state. Transportation at public expense is the rule 
in these districts. It is safe to assume that many more children live 
in consolidated districts in this nation than there are scholastics in 
Oklahoma. In addition to the consolidated schools in the United 
States, there are many excellent schools of this type in Canada where 
transportation at public expense has been furnished for a number of 
years. Despite these facts, we frequently meet people who maintain 
that transportation is impracticable, impossible or undesirable. In- 
creased taxation and the difficuclties of transportation are the two 
great objections offered to consolidation of schools by persons who have 
not learned to think in larger terms than the small district school and 
who have never regarded a consolidated district as a great co-opera- 
tive undertaking. Until the people in the community are prepared to 
take this larger, broader view, it is doubtful whether they should 
undertake to reorganize their districts or not, lest they have consolida- 
tion that fails to consolidate. 

It is reasonable to suppose that if the transportation of pupils 
were beset with all the difficulties, inconveniences and expense claimed 
by those who mistakenly oppose it, districts would not organize after 
witnessing the difficulties in adjacent districts, and legislatures would 
not authorize the transportation of pupils in practically every state in 
the union. It has been observed, however, that after one consolidated 
school is established the common school districts nearby begin to agi- 
tate the question of consolidating. Consolidation grows most rapidly 

(65) 




t 



:L'd»'-mt^' 



The Old Way 




^^' 



The New Way 

— Courtesy Studetoaker, South Bend, Ind. 
(66) 



where it is best known, or where it has been tried in neighboring com- 
munities. Again, if transportation were beset with all the difficulties 
claimed by those who oppose the organization of consolidated schools, 
we would expect to find more consolidated schools in those states that 
do not require transportation than in the states where it is mandatory 
that it be furnished. On the contrary, we find that there are more 
consolidated schools in those states where transportation is required 
than in those where it is not required. These facts should convince 
any seeker after the truth that the advantages of transportation at 
public expense outweigh all of the real and imaginary disadvantages. 
As a matter of fact, consolidation without transportation furnished by 
the district is a failure, because it is undemocratic in that it removes 
the school from the reach of children whose parents cannot furnish 
them a means of going to school. 

Indiana has required transportation since 1901 and is a leader in 
the number of consolidations effected, being second only to Louisiana 
where transportation is also required. 

The State Superintendent of Iowa reports that no consolidated 
school in that state which has ever completed its organization and trans- 
ported children has reverted to the one-room schools. There are con- 
solidated schools in seventy of the ninety-nine counties in Iowa and 
in one of these counties 65% of the entire territory is consolidated. 
In New Jersey state aid is given for the purpose of helping pay the 
cost of transportation. In Oklahoma state aid is given for the purpose 
of assisting the district to erect a suitable building, but no consolidated 
district may receive aid from this state unless the pupils living two or 
more miles from the school house are furnished transportation at the 
cost of the district. 

Two years ago, Mississippi had 193 consolidated schools to which 
7,788 pupils were transported in 436 wagons. Last year there were 
383 consolidated schools in Mississippi, employing 706 wagons to 
transport 14,310 pupils. Eighteen of these consolidated schools are 
in one county, sixteen in another and fourteen in another. 

Until the first of July, 1917, transportation of pupils was not 
authorized by the law of Illinois. This, no doubt, explains why there 
are not as many consolidated schools in Illinois as in Ohio, Iowa, In- 
diana, Missouri and other states in that section of our common coun- 
try. The interest in education on the part of Illinois people created 
the demand for the law passed during 1917 authorizing transportation 
and it will be interesting to watch the number of consolidated districts 
increase in that great state during the coming years. Experience has 
demonstrated that without public transportation the consolidated 
schools do not meet the needs of this age. 

Wagons drawn by horses afford the means of transportation 
usually employed, but in many sections of the country motorbusses are 
coming into general use for this purpose, while in some districts where 
there are large rivers motor boats are used. In districts having trolley 
lines, some of the pupils are furnished transportation by rail. This is 

(67) 



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Ford Trucb Used at Driftwood Alfalfa County. This Cost Complete With the 
Side Curtains, $710, and Covers a Route 10 Miles Iiong'. Capacity 25 Children 

true of District No. 1 in Oklahoma County. The Ninnekah district in 
Grady County, Oklahoma, is using an automobile this year to furnish 
transportation on one of the routes. Two districts in Alfalfa County 
are using Ford trucks equipped with home-made bodies. The autobus 
will, no doubt, play an important part in the future transportation of 
pupils in this and other states, for as the roads are improved it will be 
found to be the most economical means of transportation because 
of the longer route that may be covered and the shorter time required. 

The vehicles may be owned by the district or by the contractor, 
though they should usually be the property of the district. It some- 
times is advisable, as a matter of economy, to have a body and top 
made by an experienced carpenter and blacksmith — this body being the 
property of the school district — while the contractor can furnish the 
running gears, using for that purpose the ordinary farm wagon running 
gear. The body or top can be made of wood underset with spring 
bolsters and provided with comfortable seats running lengthwise on the 
body. To avoid overcrowding, the width of the body may be increased 
by projecting the seats over the sides from four to six inches, while 
the length of the body is regulated to accommodate the number of 
children to be transported. 

Great care should be exercised in the selection of drivers. As a 
rule, it is best to advertise for bids for each route to be covered, but it 
must be borne in mind that the lowest bid is not always the best bid. 
The character and temperament of the bidder must be taken into con- 
sideration, since the driver occupies a position of great responsibility 
as governor of the children during certain, hours of the day. The 
driver should enter into a contract secured by a good and sufficient 
bond for the faithful discharge of his duties. 

(68) 



It frequently happens that a patron will take the contract as a 
driver for a wagon and will have his large boy, usually a student in the 
high school department, do the actual driving. This arrangement is 
usually very satisfactory to all concerned. Since the boy is in school 
during the day, anyhow, the parent can take the contract to haul the 
pupils for less than a man can afford to render this service and spend 
his time. Three of the six wagons in the Ninnekah district and all of 
the six wagons in the Amber district are driven by students enrolled 
in the school. 

In some districts there are certain families 'focated in such places 
that it is not feasible to lay off a route that will accommodate the chil- 
dren. Under such conditions, arrangements should be made whereby 
the father may furnish a team and vehicle for his children at so much 
per day, but a strict understanding should be had as to the time when 
the children must arrive at the school house each morning and no pay 
should be allowed for the days during which the children are absent. 
It is best, where at all possible, that all children entitled to transporta- 
tion be conveyed in school wagons in order to insure better and more 
regular attendance. 

In some districts the people insist that the wagons call at the 
homes of the children, while in others the board maps off the routes 
and requires pupils living off the routes to walk to the road where the 
wagon passes. This latter plan saves both time and expense. It is 
found in districts where it has been tried out that it is not as incon- 
venient as would be thought at first glance. If the children arrive at 
the corner before the wagon passes on a cold morning they usually 
proceed to the nearest home on the route where they wait until the 
wagon arrives. During unusually severe weather, the father drives 
with his children to the point where they transfer to the school wagon 



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Home-SIade Waggons Used by NinueKah District 
(69j! 




love/cjn^l ^onso/Zc/cr^ze/ P/s/'r/c/' V V* 
•;• ••;• ••;• p//maf7 Coanfu. O/r/a 

Thirty-six Square Miles XSake an Ideal District 



just as he drives with them to the district school under present con- 
ditions. During pleasant weather, the children enjoy the exercise 
walking to and from the wagon, and during the entire term the dis- 
trict saves a small amount in the item of transportation. No child 
need be required to walk farther than one-half mile. The rural tele- 
phone is used in many districts to notify children of the whereabouts 
of the wagon. 

As a rule, the length of the route should not be in excess of seven 
miles, in districts where the roads are unusually good during the 
greater part of the year, unless autobusses are used to convey the 
children. Where the roads are not good children should not be trans- 
ported more than five miles. Districts having poor roads should not 
consolidate until conditions are improved in that respect. 

No child should be required to leave home before half past seven 

(70) 



o'clock in the morning. Those living on short routes may leave home 
later and arrive at school in ample time. The schedule should be so 
arranged that the w^agons will arrive at the school house not more than 
ten minutes before school begins, as no good purpose is served by 
having the children on the ground a half hour before time for the 
school to open the morning session. In order to be entirely satisfactory 
the wagons should leave the first point on the route at the same time 
each morning, regardless of weather conditions. When the roads are 
muddy, instead of having the wagons start earlier, the opening of 
school should be deferred long enough after nine o'clock to allow for 
the extra time required to make the trip and the recess periods should 
be shortened in order to make up the lost time and provide for an 
earlier dismissal in the afternoon. 

Transportation is popular in districts where it has had a fair 
trial. This is especially true as regards the children. The State 
Superintendent of Indiana reports the results of a poll taken in three 
consolidated districts in Randolph County. The children voted unani- 
mously against returning to the walk-to-school plan. Hon. N. C. 
Macdonald, State Inspector of Consolidated Schools in South Dakota, 
reports that he has interviewed more than one thousand children in the 
consoHdated districts of that state on their preference for the con- 
solidated or rural school, and has yet to find one child who would 
willingly go back to the old one-room rural school. This is true in 
cases of children who formerly lived within a few rods of the little 
rural school and who must now ride six or seven miles to the consoli- 
dated school. In Oklahoma I have yet to find a single child who does 
not prefer the consolidated school to the one-room type even though 
he must be transported. There are so many means of transportation 
at our command nowadays and so many consolidated districts have 
successfully blazed the way and solved the problem to the complete 
satisfaction of the people in the districts that is has been demonstrated 
to be not only possible and practical, but eminently desirable. In the 
light of these facts, it seems passing strange that many otherwise in- 
telligent people still oppose transportation, offering as arguments such 
reasons as time and experience have proved fallacious and ill-ad- 
vised. We hear so many objections offered to public transportation 
that it may prove refreshing to call attention to some of the positive 
advantages that are attributed to it. In addition to the advantages en- 
joyed by all the children who attend the well graded consolidated 
school, those who are transported have the following decided ad- 
vantages : 

1. They are conveyed to school in vehicles built especially for 
such purposes instead of in discarded vehicles which are found on the 
farm. ■ '' |'Miit| 

3. They arrive at the school promptly with feet and clothing dry. 
As a result, they have fewer colds and better general health. 

3. Since the wagon is due at a scheduled time, they form the 
habit of punctuality, a very important habit. 

(71) 



4. They are under supervision from the time they leave home in 
the morning until they return in the afternoon. 

5. Their chores are arranged in such a way that they do not 
interfere with their school work. 

6. Their language and morals are guarded on the way to and 
from school, as well as on the school ground. 

7. Their attendance is more regular because the school wagon 
makes the trip every day and they are independent to that extent of 
the caprice or convenience of their parent. 

8. The parent is relieved of the necessity of furnishing transpor- 
tation for his child during bad weather and during the busy season. 

9. It is more economical for the district to furnish transportation 
co-operatively than to have each family furnish transportation for its 
scholastics, because the co-operative plan saves horse power and time 
of men that can be devoted to productive labor. 

10. The small children are protected from the larger and all 
are protected from the district bully. 

11. Transportation leads to the improvement of the roads in the 
entire district. 

13. The wagons or autobusses add a social agency to the re- 
sources of the district that may be used by the older people in attend- 
ing lectures and educational meetings at the school house. 

13. The large boy can drive a wagon thus making it possible to 
pay his expenses while completing his high school course. 

14. Rural pupils, through the agency of transportation, have an 
opportunity to attend a well graded common school, complete a high 
school course, and prepare themselves for their life work or for college, 
without leaving home ; while the home profits likewise in having the 
assistance and society of the child before and after school. 

15. Transportation must be furnished before state aid will be 
granted. 

The following tables arranged from reports on file in the State 
Superintendent's office afford information of the practical workings 
of the transportation system in four districts located in four counties 
representing four different sections of the state. Inasmuch as some 
of the reports were not as complete as others, it was not possible to 
make them uniform as to information reported : 

TRANSPORTATION REPORT 
Dale Consolidated School, Pottawatomie County 

Eoute Monthly salary Average number Length of route 

Number of driver Pupils hauled in miles 

1 $65.00' 25 11 

2 50.00 22 9 

3 45.00 26 -.- 7 

4 42.50 27 7 

(72) 



Rocky Hill Consolidated School, District No. 4, Okmulgee County 



Eoute 



Mo. salary Average No. Length of route 



Number of driver pupils hauled 

1 $65.00 14 

2 65.00 14 

3 65.00 9 

4 65.00 20 

5 65.00 14 

One teacher drove a wagon in this district. 



in miles 
10 

8 
7 
7 
8 



Hours 





re 


quired 


1 


hr. 


45 min 


1 


hr. 


15 min 


1 


hr. 


15 min 


1 


hr. 


15 min 


1 


hr. 


15 min 




Et. 
No. 

1.. 



4. 
5. 
6. 

*7. 



I^ambert Consolidated School, Alfalfa County 

Lamhert Consolidated School, District No. 3, Alfalfa County 

Mo. salary Length of Hrs. required Original cost 

of driver route miles to make trip of wagons 

hr. 30 min. $140.00 

hr. 45 min. 140.00 

hr. 15 min. 140.00 

hr. 45 min. 140.00 

hr. 45 min. 140.00 

hr. 14 min. 140.00 

hr. 30 min. 25.00 



.$44.00 514 1 



2 45.00 

3 48.00 



7 

61/2 



48.00 7 

39.50 5 

47.50 6 

17.50 41/2 



A few children meet the wagon at convenient places, but none walk fur- 
ther than one-half mile. Three of the wagons are driven by advanced pupils. 
An average of from 25 to 30 pupils are conveyed in each wagon. 

*Eoute Number 7 is served by a carriage. 



Consolidated School District No. 1, TiUman County 

Hrs. required Original cost 

to malve trip of wagons 

.. 1 hr. 30 min. __. $125.00 

.. 1 hr. 15 min. 125.00 

.. 1 hr. 45 min. 125.00 

._ 1 hr. 45 min 125.00 



Et. Mo. salary Length of 

No. of driver route miles 

1 $34.00 5 

2 39.75 4 

3 49.50 7 

4 50.00 7 



(73) 




Four o'clock P. M. at laam'bert, Oklahoma 

The law does not provide the form of contract that shall be entered 
into by and between the drivers and the District Board. Since this 
matter is left to the discretion of the board, a form of contract that 
will safeguard the interests of the district should be made, secured by 
a good and sufficient bond. The following form of contract and bond 
is approved by the Attorney General's office : 



CONTRACT 

THIS AGKEEMENT made and entered into this day 

of 191 , by and between the Board of Directors 

of Consolidated School District Number of County, State 

(P. O. address) 

of Oklahoma, party of the first j)art, and of 

party of the second part, 

WITNESSETH, That for the monthly salary of 

($ ) Dollars, the party of the first part has this day employed the 

party of the second part for a term of months, beginning on 

the day of 191 , to drive the 

wagon on the route known as Eoute No of the above mentioned school 

district which route is more particularly defined as follows, to-wit: 

Beginning' at the home of -.-, which 

home shall be known as Stop No. 1, and thence 

, thence to school houses. 

It is agreed by the party of the first part: 

First, That the monthly salary, hereinbefore mentioned to be paid to the 
party of the second part, shall be paid at the sametime and in the same manner 
as the teachers of the said district are paid. 

Second, The said party of the first part shall furnish the school wagon 

(74) 



referred to and shall furnish a suitable shed or covering for the same during 
the day and shall also furnish a suitable shed or barn for the horse used to 
draw said wagon. 

OE (Strike out one) 
The said party of the first part shall furnish the body part of the school 
wagon in good condition to be placed upon a running gear to be furnished by 
the party of the second part and shall furnish a suitable shed or covering for 
said body and running gear during the day and shall also furnish a suitable 
shed or barn for the horses used to draw said wagon. 

IISP CONSIDEEATION of the above mentioned monthly salary, the party 
of the second part agrees: 

First, to accept the position as driver of the school wagon of the above 
mentioned route for the term hereinabove specified. 

Second, To transport all the children of school age who now reside in the 
homes along and adjacent to the route designated, or who may move into the 
homes along and adjacent to the said route during the school term, and all 
pupils who have been regularly transferred to said consolidated district, when 
said pupils live near said route, but in no case shall said wagon be driven 
beyond the boundaries of said consolidated school district for the purpose of 
picking up the pupils trg,nsferred to said consolidated district from other 
districts. 

Third, To leave Stop 1, at a. m. every school day during the term 

of this contract, as above specified, and to arrive at the school house be- 
tween a. m. and a. m. every school day during the life of 

this contract. 

Fourth, To use every care and precaution for the protection of the children 
transported as aforesaid, to maintain order and discipline at all times, to 
treat the children kindly and impartially, to set before and maintain among 
them a high moral standard, to notify the principal of the said consolidated 
school of any misconduct on the part of pupils while en route to or from the 
school in his wagon, and to exclude from the wagon any child who refuses to 
conduct himself in an orderly manner, until ordered by the party of the first 
part to reinstate said child. 

Fifth, To come to a full stop at all points where children are to be taken 
in or discharged from the wagon, and to hold the wagon at a standstill while 
the children are getting in and out of the wagon, also to cause the wagon to be 
brought to a full stop before crossing any steam or electric railway. 

Sixth, To notify the parents of the school children along said route of 
the time he will arrive at the place where the children are to take the school 
wagon and not to leave any stop before the time specified in his notice to 
the parents, and to keep up to schedule at all times. 

Seventh, To abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors at all times 
while this contract is in force and to abstain from the use of profane or 
vulgar language and tobacco in any and all forms while in charge of said 
school wagon, and not to permit the use of intoxicating liquors, tobacco, 
profanity, or vulgar language about said school wagon while he is in charge 
of same. 

Eighth, To furnish a suitable number of horses with strong harness and 
feed for the same, said horses to be gentle and able to haul all the school 
children along said route with such ease as will insure their arrival at the 
school house at the time herein above mentioned. 

Ninth, To keep the wagon housed when it is not in use and to allow said 
wagon (or body) to be used only for the transportation of pupils during the 
life of this contract unless special permission is given by the parties of the 
jfirst part. 

Tenfh, To furnish good and strong running gears for body which is to be 
furnished by the parties of the first part. (Note: this clause should be omitted 
when the district furnishes the entire wagon). 

(75) 



Eleventh, To make all reports called for by the parties of the first part or 
by those authorized by the parties of the first part to call for reports. 

IT IS AGEEED; by and between the parties hereto, 

First, That this contract may be terminated by the party of the first part 
at any time that the party of the second part fails to perform any of the con- 
ditions herein agreed to. 

Second, — That this contract shall not be assigned to any third party, unless 
the parties of the first part have hereunto given their consent in writing. 

Third, That no substitute driver shall be employed by the party of the 
second part, unless the parties of the first part have hereunto given their 
consent in writing. 

IN WITNESS WHEEEOF the parties hereto have set their hands on the 
date first hereinabove written. 

Board of Directors of Consolidated School District No 

of County, Oklahoma, 

Director, 

Clerk, 

._ Member, 

Party of first part. 

Drivei-, 

Party of second party. 

BOND 
State of Oklahoma, County of , ss 

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PEESENTS: 

THAT as principal and 

_■ and 

as sureties are hereby firmly bound by these presents to the Board of Directors 

of Consolidated School district Number of County, 

State of Oklahoma, in the penal sum of ($ ) 

Dollars in lawful money of the United States for the payment of which sum 
well and truly to be made, the said principal and sureties bind themselves, 
their heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns, jointly and 
severally, firmly by these presents. 

Signed this day of 191 

The condition of this obligation is such that, 

WHEEEAS, Said Principal has entered into a written contract with the 

above mentioned school district dated the day of 

191 — ,whereby the said Principal herein was employed to drive the school 

wagon on Eoute No of such district, according to the terms and 

conditions of said contract, a copy of which is hereto attached and made a 
part hereof. 

NOW THEEEFOEE, If the said shall 

faithfully perform and discharge all his duties as provided for and agreed to 
in the contract hereinbefore mentioned, and in accordance with all the terms 
and conditions thereof, then this bond shall be null and void, otherwise to be 
and remain in full force and effect. 

IN WITNTSS WHEEEOF, We have hereunto set our hands and seals on 
the date hereinabove written. 

WITNESSES: 



As to Principal. Principal. 

As to First Surety First Surety. 

As to Second Surety Second Surety. 
(76) 



Chapter V. 



STATE AID FOR CONSOLIDATED AND UNION GRADED SCHOOLS 

In many states, the Legislatures have provided special aid for 
consolidated schools. Oklahoma is one of the progressive states in 
this respect. Several of the states extend aid for the purpose of paying 
part or all of the cost of transportation. Oklahoma is one of the states 
that extends aid to consolidated and union graded school districts for 
the purpose of helping to erect suitable buildings. 

State Superintendent R. H. Wilson, at the beginning of his first 
term in office, urged that an appropriation be made to assist consoli- 
dated and union graded districts. As a result, the Legislature in 1911 
appropriated $100,000.00 for this purpose, but the Attorney General 
held this not legal. In 1913, the Legislature appropriated $100,000.00 
for state aid and claims for $98,393.00 were approved for 65 districts 
during the biennial period for which the appropriation was made. 
This money was paid in two instalments, the first being 40% and the 
second 25% of the amounts to which the districts were entitled. The 
Legislature at its session in 1915 failed to make an appropriation for 
districts of this type. 

The following resolution passed by the legislature at the 1917 
session defines the policy of the state with respect to extending special 
aid to union graded and consolidated schools : 

Resolved, by the House of Eepresentatives, the Senate concurring therein: 
That it is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Oklahoma that union 
graded or consolidated schools heretofore or hereafter organized as provided 
by law shall have all financial assistance necessary to the development' of said 
union graded or consolidated schools to their highest point of efficiency; and 
the revenues of the State are by this resolution pledged to the support of 
said union graded or consolidated schools along with other necessary expenses 
of State government. — (House Concurrent Eesolution Number 25, JSession 
Laws 1917). 

In pursuance of the policy heretofore established and as reaffirmed 
in the above resolution, the Legislature appropriated $175,000 as aid 
to union graded and consolidated schools during the biennial period 
beginning July 1st, 1917, and ending June 30th, 1919. This money 
is to be apportioned and distributed under the provisions of Articles 
VII and VIII of the School Laws of Oklahoma, 1917. 

The sixty-five districts that received state aid under the original 
appropriation were still due 35% of the original amounts for which 
their claims had been approved, or a total of $53,019.03. Claim blanks 
were sent to all of the sixty-five districts as soon as the fund became 
available and sixty of them have completed their applications and re- 

(77) 



ceived their warrants for a total of $48,644.03. Five of these districts 
have not yet sent in their claims, and at least three of these will not 
present claims. 

There will be available during this biennial period for districts 
that have not yet received state aid an amount in excess of $135,000. 
This money will be paid to the schools in the order in which they com- 
plete their records. Those that apply too late will have to wait until 
the Legislature -meets and makes another appropriation. At the date 
of the publication of this bulletin, the following districts have applied 
for state aid from this fund : 

Consolidated School District No. 60, Texas Co., Goodwell $2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 5, Tillman Co., Loveland 2,500.00 

Union Graded School District No. 83, Harmon Co., Dryden 1,250.00 

Consolidated School District No. 2, Tillman Co., Davidson 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 85, Garfield Co., Drummond 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 6, Tillman Co., Frederick 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 5, Kiowa Co., Cold Springs 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 33, Eogers Co., Ollagah 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 106, Harmon Co., Shrewder 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 2, Harper Co., Eosston 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 76, Canadian Co., Calumet 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 1, Muskogee Co., Muskogee 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 1, Oklahoma Co., Putnam City 2,500.00 

Consolidated School District No. 2, Muskogee Co., Wainwright 2,500.00 

Union Graded School District No.74, Harmon Co., HoUis -..__- 1,250.00 

Total, 15. 

These applications will be passed upon as soon as the records 
can be made complete by the applicants. Any consolidated or union 
graded district board can secure application blanks by applying to 
the Secretary of the State Board of Education, Oklahoma City, Okla. 

HOW TO SECURE STATE AID 

The following requirements must be met before state aid will be granted: 

1. An application must be filed with the State Department of Education, 
which 9.pplication must be made on a form furnished by the State Department 
of Education and sworn to by the members of the district board. The County 
Superintendent must approve the application. 

2. The County Superintendent must furnish, under oath, on a blank 
prescribed by the State Department of Education a certificate of the organi- 
zation of the consolidated or union graded district, which certificate shall set 
forth the facts of the organization as found in the records of the office of the 
County Superintendent. 

3. A map of the district showing area, location of .school district with 
respect to township and range, and location of school building in district must 
accompany the application. 

4. A photograph of the school building and of the wagons used in pro- 
viding transportation for the pupils must accompany the application. 

5. Before erecting a new building or making extensive alterations, the 
district should submit plans and specifications, to the State Superintendent, 
in order that the building may be of such a modern type that no question will 

(78) 



arise as to the advisability of tlie State helping the district pay for the 
building. The State will not consider favorably applications of districts hav- 
ing buildings that are not modern. 

Before making an application for state aid, the school board and 
county superintendent should read very carefully the law relating to 
state aid and make sure that the district can meet all the legal re- 
quirements. 

The school directors and county superintendents must exercise 
great care in keeping the records of the organization, because these 
records must be circumstantially set forth later in the application for 
state aid. 



(791, 



Chapter VI. 



THE TRANSFER LAW 

Throughout the nation high schools have made wonderful de- 
velopment during the past decade. The development has been in re- 
sponse to a growing demand on the part of the public, and it has in 
turn helped to create the demand. The present tendency everywhere is 
to require a school district to furnish high school training for its 
young men and women as well as the elementary training that has 
always been demanded of each district. Our Legislature has responded 
to this demand by enacting laws providing for consolidated and union 
graded schools in communities that desire to own and control their 
high schools, and by passing a transfer law applicable to those districts 
that do not maintain high schools. 

Under the provisions of the transfer law it becomes the duty of 
a school district to pay for the tuition of its scholastics who have com- 
pleted the course of study offered in the district and who desire to 
attend a high school in another district. An estimate must be made 
to pay the tuition of such pupils as apply under the provisions of this 
law and the tuition must be paid by the home district to the district to 
which the children are transferred. 

In many communities where a large number of eighth grade 
graduates have completed the work offered in the one-room schools 
and applied for transfers it has been found that several districts can 
better afford to unite in organizing consolidated or union graded 
schools than to pay tuition in the high schools of adjoining districts. 
This has resulted in increased interest in rural high schools. The 
three rural districts in Grady County that united to form a union 
graded district furnish an illustration of the working out of the new 
transfer law for the benefit of all the rural children. The law is given 
below, inasmuch as it has an important bearing on the consolidated and 
union graded schools both with respect to the pupils transferred to 
such schools and in making it desirable that such schools be organized : 

ARTICLE XVI— OKLAHOMA SCHOOL LAWS, 1917 
Transfer of Pupils 

Section 275. Transfers: The county superintendent of any county in 
this state shall as provided in this act, when in his judgment the best interests 
of the schools will not be adversely affected, and when requested by parents or 
guardians, permit children living in any school district in this state, attend 
school in another school district. (Sec. 1, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 276. Procedure for Transfers: All requests for transfers by the 
parent or guardian of any child or children shall be made and filed with the 
county superintendent not later than the first day of June. The county super- 

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intendent shall, not later than the fifth day of June, notify in writing the 
school boards of every district from or to which an application for transfer 
has been made. That he will on the tenth day of June hold a hearing regarding 
said application for transfers, on the date of said hearing any person or persons 
of an affected district may appear before the county superintendent and give 
any reason why the transfer should not be made. After the hearing, if the 
county superintendent is of the opinion that it is to the best interest of the 
school children, and that the best interests of the schools will not be adversely 
affected, he shall make the transfer. If he is not so satisfied, he shall refuse 
the transfer. Provided, that any person interested in such transfer shall have 
the right of appeal from the action of said superintendent to the board of 
county commissioners. (Sec. 2, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 277. Eegulations Binding: After having given notice of the pro- 
posed change of districts, and after the transfer being made by the county 
superintendent, the parents or guardian, and children and the school boards of 
either affected district shall be bound by the regulations, rules and compulsory 
school law of the school district to which the children are transferred. (Sec. 
3, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 278. Funds Prorated: Fees for all transfers shall be based upon 
the previous year pro-rate expense for pupil in the district to which the transfer 
is made, tuition for common schools and high schools estimated separately. 
(Sec. 4, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 279. Shall Furnish Statement: It shall be the duty of the county 
superintendent to furnish the school board of every district from which a 
transfer has been made with a statement not later than the fifteenth day of 
Juiie, showing the amount necessary to be raised for "transfer fund," said 
amount to be ascertained as required in section 278 of this act, and said state- 
ment shall also show the number of pupils tranferred and the district to 
which they were transferred, a copy of said statement shall be furnished the 
district to which transfer is made. (See. 5, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 280. Duty of Boards: It shall be the duty of the school boards 
from which transfers have been made, in compliance with the act to include 
in their annual estimate the amount for transfer fund as shown by staement 
referred to in section 279, of this act. (Sec. 6, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 281. Shall Make Estimate: The school district board of the 
district from which pupils have been transferred under the provisions of this 
act shall at the time they make their annual estimate for tax levying purposes 
include therein the amount necessary to pay such transfer fees as may be 
required. It shall be the duty of the excise board when they make levies 
for school purposes to ascertain from the county superintendent of public 
instruction whether all transfers made by him have been provided for in the 
estimate submitted by the school district boards, and if the estimate of any 
district does not include the amount necessary to raise such transfer fee in 
any and every case it shall be the duty of the excise board to correct such 
estimate and make same show the amount which will be necessary to raise 
the required transfer fee, and said excise board shall in every case, make and 
provide a levy which will" be sufficient to raise the amount of transfer fees 
required. (Sec. 7, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 282. Eeports: It shall be the duty of the teacher, principal or 
superintendent of the school to which any transfer of pupils has been made, 
as provided in this act, at the end of the school term to make a triplicate 
report in writing, one copy to be delivered to the county superintendent of 
public instruction, one copy to be sent to the school district board of the 
district from which the transfer has been made, and to keep one in the files 
and records of such school. This report shall show the number of days the 
pupil has attended school, and the progress made. This report shall be sworn 
to before the clerk of the district board, by the teacher, principal or superin- 
tendent who taught such child, and shall show the number of days the pupil 
has attended school and the progress made, and all school boards from which 

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transfers were made shall during the last month of school in said district, issue 
a warrant in favor of the school district to which transfers were made in pay- 
ment of the amount due in accordance with said report furnished by the 
teacher, principal or superintendent of the district in which the child or 
children attended. Provided, that all claims for tuition shall be based upon the 
monthly pro rata of the actual maintenance expense of the district as sub- 
mitted by the county superintendent when transfer was made; and further 
provided, that when a child attends a part of a month that the same shall be 
considered a full school month. (Sec. 8, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 

Section 283. District Defined: For all purposes of this act, schools of 
cities of the first class and rural consolidated schools or union consolidated dis- 
tricts shall be considered school districts. (Sec. 9, H. B. 296, Session Laws 
1917.) 

Section 284. Persons May Select: Eenters and others who come into a 
school district from an adjoining school district after the school term has begun, 
may make a choice of the school which their children will attend by giving 
notice to the county superintendent of their intentions, as soon as residence 
has been established, and their children shall be enumerated for that school 
year by the school board for the district in which their children shall attend 
school. (Sec. 10, H. B. 296, Session Laws 1917.) 



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Chapter VII. 



MODEL RURAL SCHOOLS 

In August, 1913, State Superintendent Wilson issued a bulletin 
on the subject of "Physical Features of Public School Centers," in 
which a system of standards for better one and two-room rural schools 
was outlined. During August of the following year, he sent a letter to 
each county superintendent in the state urging that at least one model 
school be established in the county during that year. A large number 
of the county superintendents responded to the suggestion designating 
one of their schools as the model school of the county. This led to 
the additional suggestion that a definite system of gradation or standard- 
ization be established under which all schools in the county might be 
classified and under which each school might hope to become a model 
or standard school. During August, 1916, "A Guide to Better Schools" 
was issued in which the standards previously outlined in "Physical 
Features of Public School Centers" were extended and enlarged upon 
as a basis of what a model school should be. Because of the diverse 
conditions in the several sections of the state, many superintendents 
fdt that they could not hope to reach the high standard set by the state. 
As a result, some of these superintendents did not attempt standardi- 
zation at all, while others attempted it along the lines suggested in the 
bulletins and letters, but used score cards devised to meet the con- 
ditions in their counties and by means of which the better schools in 
the counties could hope to attain a rating in the beginning. It is the 
intention of these superintendents to build their schools up to the state 
standard by gradually adding to the requirements from year to year. 

The State Department of Education approves most heartily of all 
efforts that have been made to bring the schools up to a definite stand- 
ard. The greatest amount of educational progress that has been made 
in the state since 1913 has been made in those counties where the super- 
intendents have adopted a definite standard and have worked con- 
sistently and persistently to bring their schools up to the standard. 
The power to organize the county schools and build to a definite 
standard is the unmistakable mark of a successful superintendent. 

As stated before, there are communities in our state so situated 
that they cannot at this time enjoy the advantages of consolidated or 
union graded schools. Such communities should at least make an 
effort to establish a model school for their children. 

In order to make it possible for all schools in the state to be graded 
according to the same standard, the following score card has been pre- 
pared. This is based upon standards outlined in our bulletins issued 
heretofore, but is arranged according to the system used by Miss 
Helen h- Dunaway, County Superintendent of Washington County, 

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Friend School and Teaoherag-e, District No. 37, G-rady County. Notice Attractive 

Front and Back Vards 

Oklahoma, who has been unusually successful with her standardiza- 
tion. The teacher can score the school according to this plan, and in 
that way it becomes possible to score all schools in the state. The 
school should be scored during the first month of the term and again 
during the last month, in order to show improvements made during 
the term and the widest publicity should be given to this work as a 
means of encouragement and stimulation: 



SCOEE CARD FOE OKLAHOMA SCHOOLS 



Name of School No. of District- 
Date School was Scored , 191 — 



. County 



-Teacher. 



NOTE: Teacher should show on dotted line the number of points to which 
the school is entitled for item mentioned. Figures in parenthesis indicate 
maximum number of points that may be allowed. 
1. Grounds and Outhouses: Size of site (5 points per acre not to exceed 

15 points) Site well drained (5) — .Well or cistern of good clear 

water (20) Cement well curb (10) "Well protected by good 

roof (10)__ Lattice walls to well house (10) Fence entirely 



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Fish Creek Model School, Washiug'ton County. Notice the Flaygrround EcLuip- 
luent and Well-kept Outhuilding-s 

around school ground (woven wire 15 points; other hog tight fence 10 points; 

single cable 5 points) Two substantial widely separated fly-tight 

closets provided with galvanized receptacles (15 points; with pit 20 points; 
with pit kept supplied with horse manure to make it odorless 30 points; well- 
kept substantial closets without pits or receptacles 5 points) screen 

for closets (5) Closets at least 200 feet from water supply (5) 

Well-kept and substantial storm cave (10) Shed for horses (5) 

Substantial fuel shed conveniently located (10) Outbuildings painted 

and kept in repair (15) Growing trees in school yard (each 2 points, 

not to exceed a total of 30 points) Koses or other shrubs (each 2 

points, not to exceed a total of 20 points) Flower bed (10) 

School garden (15) Hot-bed (10) Walk from road to school- 
house (cement 15; cinder or macadam 10; plank 5) Walks from 

schoolhouse to outhouses (cement 15; cinder or macadam 10; plank 5) 

Lawn kept fairly well mowed and free from dead grass or rubbish (10); 

Bermuda or other lawn grass started (10) (List here three desirable 

features of your grounds and outhouses for which you think credit should be 
allowed and which are not listed above — 5 points each not to exceed 15 points). 

Maximum score allowed for grounds and outhouses, 250 points. 

Score for this school points. 

2. The School Building: Name of school in neat letters above door (10) 

Good solid foundation (10) Building painted (20) 

Eoof in repair (15) Chimney in repair (15) Platform at 

front door (5) Roof over platform (10) Doors in repair so 

they open and close easily and locks in repair (10) Entrance hall 

(10)_-. Suitable cloakrooms for boys and girls (20) Plenty of 

hooks (5) Storage for lunch baskets (screened built-in cupboards 20 

points; plain cupboard 15 points; three or more open shelves 10 points; one 

open shelf 5 points) Windows in repair so that they open easily from 

top or bottom (10) . — Windows arranged on left, or at left and rear of 

pupils only (20) Window panes in repair (10) Walls plas- 
tered (15) or ceiled (10) Walls and ceiling papered or tinted 

(10) Walls and ceiling kept clean (10) Floors oiled (10) 

Not less than 40 feet of good blackboard (slate 20 points, hyloplate 

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10 points, other 5 points) Blackboard low enough for pupils to use, 

at least % of surface, not more than 26 inches from floor in one room rural 

school (15) Ceiling not less than 13 feet from floor (5) 

Twenty square feet of floor space per child (10) Lribrary room (20) 

Separate room or basement for Domestic Science work (25) 

For Manual Training (25) (List here three desirable features of 

your school building for which you think credit should be allowed and which 

ax.e not listed^ above, 5 points each not to exceed 15 points) 

Maximum score allowed for school building, 250 points. 
Score for this school points. 

3. Equipment: Agriculture (10) Domestic Science (15).. 

Manual Training (15) Colored sticks, inch cubes; wooden beads; 

knitting spools; pegs and peg boards; word builders; sentence builders; number 
builders (check each kind of which there is enough to supply all primary 

pupils) any four (20) Plenty of . scissors for primary pupils (5) 

Sand table (5^ Set of phonic cards (5) Set of large 

sight words for primer class (5) Globe (10) Set of maps (10) 

Reading chart (5) Unabridged dictionary (15) One set of 

supplementary primers (5) First readers (5) Second readers 

(5) Third readers (5) Geographical readers (10) 

Medium priced school encyclopedia (10) Other library books suitable 

for primary grades, at least 15 volumes (15) Other library books 

suitable for intermediate grades, at least 25 volumes (15) Other li- 
brary books suitable for the grammar grades, at least 25 volumes (15) 

Bookcase (15) Teacher's desk (5) Teacher's chair (5) 

Chairs for three visitors (5) Ample recitation seats (5) 

All single desks (10) Arranged in rows according to size so 

that desks of different sizes are not placed in same row (5) Jacketed 

stove in repair (20) Stove at one side or back of room (10) 

Standard pictures in frame (5 points each, not to exceed 25 points) 

Window shades at all windows (adjustable 10 points; others 5 points) 

Drinking fountain or cooler (10) Sash curtains (made by pupils 15 

points; by teacher 10 points) Flag displayed in school (10) 

Lamps (5) Clock (5) Erasers (5) Piano, organ or 

victrola in good repair (20) Basin, pitcher and mirror, for suitable 

lavatory facilities (15) Good wash stand (5) Thermometer 

(5) Two swings, two teeter-totters, giant stride, basketball court and 

outfit; tennis court and outfit; three bean bags; indoor baseball outfit; volley 




One of Two Modern Bural School Buildings in Alfalfa County 

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Locust Grove Model Scliool, Alfalfa County. Domestic Science Department in 
Easement. Notice Arrangement of Windows in Classroom 



ball outfit; football (5 points each, not to exceed 25 points) Slide, 

turning bars; flying rings; traveling rings; trapeze; revolving trapeze swing; 
croquet set and court; (5 points each, not to exceed 15 points). List here five 
articles of equipment that you have but which are not listed above (5 points 
each, not to exceed 25 points) 

Maximum score allowed for equipment, 400 points. 

Score for this school points. 

4. Organization: Latest state course of study on teacher's desk (5) 

Daily program of recitations on blackboard and followed (5) 

Pupils make use of library (5) Attendance at least 95% for year (20) 

Tardiness not more than 3% (10) Compulsory attendance 

law enforced (10) Length of term (7 months 5 points; 8 months 8 

points; 9 months 10 points) Salary of teacher (not less than $65.00 

per month, 10 points; $75.00 per month, 15 points; $85.00 per month, 20 

points; $100 per month, 25 points) Literary society and activities (5) 

At least one visit per month from a school board member (5) 

Boys' Agricultural Club (15) Girls' Domestic iScience Club (15) 

Taking part in county athletic contests (10); County literary contests (10) 
In countj^ school fair or rally (10) 

Maximum score allowed for organization, 100 points. 

Score for this school points. 

NOTE: Each teacher does the scoring for her own school, subject to 
corrections of the county superintendent. Each item counts as many points 
on the score as shown in the small printed figures. Grade each item, marking 
carefully number of points to which school is entitled. For instance, if the 
school site is less than an acre, the score for that item shall be 0, if one acre 
it will be 5 points, if two acres, it will be 10 points, if three or more acres, 
it will be 15 points. No credit is allowed for any item which does not meet 
all the specifications; for example a district having two substantial closets 
that are not kept clean cannot score on that item, nor can it score if it has 
two well-kept but not substantial buildings. After scoring «ach item add 
scores for each subdivision and enter on dotted line at end of subdivision. 

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Add the score for the four subdivisions and point off one decimal place. For 
instance, if a school has a perfect score, the sum of its points will be 1000 or 
more; pointing off one decimal place we then have 100.0'%. If the sum of all 
points is 878, by pointing off one decimal point we have 87.8%. Enter aggre- 
gate score below. 

Total number of points or per cent. 

Model School 1000 points and above Class "C" 50 to 75 percent 

Class "A" 90 to 100 per cent. Unclassified, below 50 per cent. 

Class "B" 75 to 90 per cent. 

This school is in Class 

Approved this day of 191 — 

County Superintendent, 

The foregoing score card should be filled out in duplicate and both 
copies should be sent to the County Superintendent who should verify 
the additions, classify the school, sign both copies, file one and return 
the other to the teacher with instructions to place it on the wall in 
some conspicuous place so that it may be examined by the pupils and 
patrons at their convenience. In this way the standing of the school 
in comparison with the better schools in the state is emphasized and 
the people are given a definite standard to which they should work. 

Attention is called to the fact that in arranging this score card 
emphasis has been placed on those physical features that are within 
the control of the teacher and school board. For instance, especial 
emphasis is placed on the equipment. Since in the early stages of our 
attempts to standardize schools, it will be necessary to depend largely 
upon the teachers to do the grading, no attempts have been made to 
score the teachers. This represents an effort to build a solid and per- 
manent physical foundation for our schools and may later be expanded 
to include the qualities of teaching provided for the children in the 
district. County Superintendents and teachers should make a survey 
of their schools, using the above blanks, in order that they may know 
how the schools in their counties compare with the best rural schools 
in the state, many of which can qualify as Model Schools. 




Domestic Science Class in Model Rural School, ]C!9>1;inier County 

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It is not expected that each school will score on each item. The 
sum of all points is greater than 1000 ; therefore a school may become 
a model school without having all equipment listed or without qualify- 
ing in all items under the head of Grounds and Outhouses, School 
Building, Equipment and Organization. No school having a building 
erected after January 1, 1918, will be designated as a model school, 
however, unless the school room is properly lighted by windows ar- 
ranged on the left side only or on the left with high windows at the 
rear. School boards should have the County Superintendent or State 
Superintendent approve plans for such new school buildings to be 
erected in order to make sure that such buildings are modern in every 
respect. 

A diploma or certificate will be issued to each model school in the 
state that meets the requirements set forth heretofore, when the County 
Superintendent certifies to the State Superintendent that the school 
has met all requirements. 




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